Dude you just hate everything and have done for years. The smug thing is you look out, decide the whole world and everyone in it sucks, and then instead of thinking "huh, maybe this is a function of my well-earned chronic depression" you go "it must be because everything is terrible and I'm the only one who has cracked the code." You're literally sitting there going I wonder if I can bait anyone into fighting about... the existence of culture. I'm not going to tell you to watch Ferris Bueller. I'm not going to tell you to watch Back to the Future. I am going to point out that you took a discussion of a movie you've decided to never watch and used it to shit on everyone who ever has just to give yourself that little edgelord troll-hit of endorphins so... yeah. Good talk. What else haven't you seen, read or heard that you need to pronounce condemnation on? We'll start a list and whenever you have the downzies we'll post something!
Guys, it's not a big deal. Sorry I left in a tizzy. I'll try to finally make it to shitting all over the recent optimistic fusion news within another week or so. Glad to be back though, but I'm still on twitter 😬
As of two days ago, I'm officially and completely employed by the company. This was somewhat in the air (not on the ground level but legally) because I signed my work contract all the way in July, and I'd only arrived into Belgium to work in December. I'm not sure what the actual issue was, but now I have a new contract, and it's all good. I even got paid my first salary! The social secretary (who runs the documents for my boss in the background) did a great job by giving me a higher-status position legally, which prompted higher pay for fewer hours. (Apparently all of that is not for my boss to decide directly, and is instead governed by employment rules of Belgium and/or the EU.) All in all, it's a significant bump to my available funds, and it's welcome even more so now that I think I have a good shot at celebrating Christmas and New Year in New York in 2023 → 2024. Hearing a fair amount of Russian in Brussels. Mostly from women. Some of them were discussing the happenings in Ukraine from the position of (what sounds like) having fled the country. Hearing other people speak openly of the war and its consequences in my native tongue is somehow affirming, but also chilling: in as much as it feels like the war is that much closer to me, that much more observable, than it ever was when I was in Russia. Having no money worry is a big relief. Being able to plan out more, and sooner, upgrades to self is a bigger relief still.
Whelp, I think Consequence 1 is that the State Department and CIA will never let Russia be a world power again. The fact that the neocons allowed Russia to regain enough power to place a useful idiot in the oval office will forever inoculate the Gray Men from allowing politicians to set policy. The CIA gets their teddy bear back - "destruction of the Former Soviet Union" has been on their wishlist since they checked off "Destruction of the Soviet Union". I don't know that they'll succeed but between the Magnitsky Act, the Bucket'O'Sanctions and the half-tithe we're spending to decimate the Russian military five times over, I know it's rough for Russia. I think it will take several electoral cycles for Teh Crazeh to burn itself out in the Republican Party, but burn itself out it will. People forget: the number one requirement for Republicans has been LOYALTY since Newt Gingrich and we've seen the logical outcome of that. The era of Mitch McConnell is over; Democrats gained more seats than gerrymandering could protect, and Biden has nominated more judges than Trump as anyone with any character basically went "four more years" during the Trump Era. You can see this playing out in the Boebert Vs. Green debacle as the former nearly lost to a progressive Democrat while the latter handily beat her centrist challenger - Boebert now has to worry about actual voters while Green has to worry about even crazier morons to her right primarying her. I think the cost of opportunism has been demonstrated for all far and wide. You can be Jason Miller? But all that's left for you is stand-ups on a hated network for old people whose only advertiser is a coke-addled pillow salesman. When all the world is leaning into ESG and everyone around you had a choice between ethics or opportunism, your scarlet letter is never going away. You know how Snowden shocked the world with all his revelations about the NSA? Ten years previously all that shit was called Total Information Awareness. Know what drove TIA underground? The whole country going "oh fuck not John Poindexter again." And that was effectively before social media, an era before teenaged citizen journalists could supercut your transgressions while bored. You can no more get history off the internet than you can get piss out of a swimming pool, and the whole of the Trump Posse Baby Ruthed the fuck out of that watering hole. I think Jared Kushner is now Our Man in Riyadh. I think MBS went "I am the despot now" and the CIA went "fine, we see how well flattery works, we've got our own Donald Trump now." People forget - Donald Trump went "Jared is going to fix the Middle East" and by damn if Jared Kushner didn't somehow normalize relations to the point where you can fly direct from Riyadh to Tel Aviv now. Do I think Jared Kushner had anything to do with this? No I do not. The man's COVID solution was Facebook. But I think MBS doesn't give a shit about Palestine and the CIA went "we'll fund that emotion" and here we are. Will he still turn up drowned off the Canary Islands like Robert Maxwell? I sincerely hope so. But not while he's still a useful idiot. At its most cynical level, the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi sent a message to the CIA as to how MBS intended to run the country, and from a CIA standpoint, it wasn't particularly expensive or damaging - compare and contrast with Iran. As far as consequences for Donald Trump? Whelp, he's likely got federal charges lined up against him, his extremely shady taxes are public, and at least two states are lined up for criminal and civil charges related to a smorgasbord of shady shit. And there is no disinfectant like sunlight. I think he's got five, six years of ignominy left. I don't know if he'll ever serve time. I know we'll be talking about it until he fucking dies, which is extremely tedious, but objectively speaking, the man is a historical figure. He matters more than George Wallace, Herbert Hoover or Richard Nixon. He's up there with John Wilkes Booth as far as I'm concerned. We have been worried about a man like Donald Trump since before he was born. It has always been up to question what would happen if a legitimate challenge to democracy were to arise - how fragile is the republic, really? I believe we have our answer. One thing about our Mennonite form of government: it doesn't move quickly. There are many faster, more agile implementations of democracy in the world and while they're clearly better at coming up with things like universal healthcare, they also give you things like Brexit and Hugo Chavez. Which is not to say it won't happen again. But a whole lot of Donald Trump's maneuverability was due to the element of surprise. You can attack Pearl Harbor twice but it won't do nearly as much. History doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme? And Donald Trump was what happens when George Wallace or Huey Long don't get shot, frankly. I don't know what that means for the future? But I know it'll be generations before anyone allows another Donald Trump to happen.
I'm sure there are people who can make open relationships work. I'll just say that in the 30 years I have been peripheral to the polyamorous community I have never once met one. More than that, nobody griefs quite like polys. Every anecdote I have about a bad breakup - every single one, except with the guy who is a diagnosed sociopath - involves a joint decision to fuck other people. The bitterest humans I know are the ones who tried to make open relationships work. Quoth lil: "Monogamy" can be substituted out of that sentence with no difficulty whatsoever. Polyamory, chess, bass fishing. "I want to explore my sexuality" is a very, VERY different statement than "I want to explore my sexuality with you." Recognize that she is saying "I am offering you no commitments" and that is literally all she is saying. Recognize that she is laying the groundwork for "I owe you fuckall behaviorally speaking" and gird your loins for it. You will suck at this. I say this because I know you. Your best move is to say "come find me when you've figured it out, because you matter to me more than I matter to you right now and I'm not going to put up with that." Li'l story. I've known my wife since 1994. She literally gave me my dorm key. And within a week she was dating this other guy. Dated him for five years. Married him. Stayed married to him for two years. Then got sick of his shit and kicked him out. He was literally the only person she ever dated. And we started dating, and she said a few things about having never really dated, and wanting to maybe figure out what that looked like, and I was kinda cool with it, and she had a party with a group of friends, one of whom, like me, wanted to date her earlier but couldn't, and I thought "I owe her this" and then I immediately thought "no, no I don't" and came right back to the house having left and kicked his ass out. We'd been "dating" for two weeks at the time. That was more than twenty years ago. A serial monogamist who was married for six years doesn't need to figure out her shit at your expense. You can be cool with it? But you won't be happy about it. And she won't respect you. CANCEL AWAY FUCKERSIf monogamy is not based on the desire and joy in being together, then it’s control.
bfx, the important thing is to have fun now, to deepen your relationship now, and continue being honest and open about fears and feelings. “Now” is all that’s real. I went through three long relationships and two (too) long marriages before I stumbled across my current partner and and for the first time didn’t want to be with anyone else. I was sixty-fucking-three when I got it, that monogamy is just wanting to have the best time with someone you like — not externally imposed. Prior to now in my life, monogamy was just another word for controlling. If monogamy is not based on the desire and joy in being together, then it’s control. Good for her that she’s exploring her feelings about sex and sexuality. She may want to do more exploring than you feel comfortable with - if that’s the case, figure out the roots of your discomfort- which is probably insecurity, which leads to control. Still, time with others is time not with you. Having a “relationship” or an imagined “future” with someone does not replace the necessity of also having to have a life.
GUESS WHAT MOTHERFUCKERS MY VISA IS COMING TODAY OR TOMORROW IT DEPENDS BUT UH YEAH GOOD TIMES Update: GOT MY PASSPORT COOL VISA INSIDE NOW PLANNING MY ROUTE THE FUCK OUT OF RUSSIA Update 2: Boarding the bus into Helsinki in two hours. Probably will not update y'all when I get to my hotel in Brussels. Probably the morning after. Today is gonna be a long day... literally. Thank you for all the support.
Holy shit this is amazing. It's like he's doing an impression of Doug Balloon but without realizing he's the target of the parody. ...as archetypal Italian fascism...? Which races, exactly? Anglos, Saxons and Protestants? Scots-Irish and Muscovite Slavs? aaaaaand fascism. Let's not disregard the fascism, shall we? Ohhhh I dunno, some of us will never forget Terry Schiavo or the original October Surprise. ...much like the New Deal, except without passing. I have boots older than ICE, that shit could be abolished tomorrow and the world would breathe a sigh of relief. "Defund the Police" should have been "Demilitarize the Police" and you know it and things would have been fine. ...who? The former spook who won suburban Virginia by 5 points? That I legit had to look up? LOL you mean the guy who used executive actions to pardon marijuana offenses and relieve student debt by edict? ...which is why they've all been completely silent over the past week. ...maybe you made it up SHOT CHASER But remember, it's multicultural "Trumpian populism." Yep it certainly wasn't about abortion. Because while 4/5ths of the country didn't vote for Trump in 2016, they are also 7-year locusts and it's taken them a while to claw their way out of the sand. ...'cuz it wouldn't be the New York Times if they weren't linking to polls that have been useless for a decade or more. Shit SURE has changed "Here are a list of elected officials nobody is talking about that I can cherry-pick to prove my point." ©2020 David Brooks Thereby surprising exactly no one except the establishment pundit class and those who still humor them for some reason. I love how "extreme tendencies" on the left is things like healthcare. Let's elide the fact that 80% of the population agrees with democratic policies so we can ignore who the extremists are, shall we? Oh hell no. Nor will he talk about their numbers or their sources of funding. Because then who the hell will you ask diners in Cleveland about? Bothsides it again, David. chef's kiss Only two? c'mon David you've got some words left! This is why over half the country wants a third party to vote for yet the Democratic Socialists elected one state office and Libertarians won zero. The Democrats are weak because they require a stance against corruption in order to retain their voter base.To his great credit, Trump reinvented the G.O.P.
He destroyed the corporate husk of Reaganism and set the party on the path to being a multiracial working-class party.
To his great discredit, he enshrouded this transition in bigotry, buffoonery and corruption.
He ushered in an age of performance politics — an age in which leaders put more emphasis on attention-grabbing postures than on practical change.
The left had its own smaller version of performative populism. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became a major political figure thanks to her important contributions to Instagram.
The Green New Deal was not a legislative package but a cotton candy media concoction.
Slogans like “Abolish ICE” and “Defund the police” were not practical policies, just cool catchphrases to put on posters.
That year, after progressives appeared to cost the Democrats several House seats with randy talk of socialism, moderate Democrat Abigail Spanberger roasted the left and was one of those who helped pull the party back toward the center on crime and other issues.
Biden rejected the performative style of the populist moment while harnessing some progressive ideas.
Performative populism has begun to ebb. Twitter doesn’t have the hold on the media class it had two years ago.
Peak wokeness has passed.
There seem to be fewer cancellations recently, and less intellectual intimidation.
I was a skeptic of the Jan. 6 committee at first, but I now recognize it’s played an important cultural role.
That committee forced America to look into the abyss, to see the nihilistic violence that lay at the heart of Trumpian populism.
The election of 2022 marked the moment when America began to put performative populism behind us.
Though the results are partial, and Trump acolytes could still help Republicans control Congress, this election we saw the emergence of an anti-Trump majority.
According to a national exit poll, nearly 60 percent of voters said they had an unfavorable view of Trump.
Almost half of the voters who said they “somewhat disapprove” of Biden as president still voted for Democrats, presumably because they were not going to vote for Trumpianism.
The single most important result of this election was the triumph of the normies. Establishmentarian, practical leaders who are not always screaming angrily at you did phenomenally well, on right and left: Mike DeWine in Ohio, Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania. Workmanlike incumbents from John Thune in South Dakota to Ron Wyden in Oregon had successful nights. Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin had the quotation that summarized the election: “Boring wins.”
Americans are still deeply unhappy with the state of the country, but their theory of change seems to have begun to shift. Less histrionic media soap opera. Less existential politics of menace. Let’s find people who can get stuff done.
The telling election results were at the secretary of state level. The America First Secretary of State Coalition features candidates who rejected the 2020 election results and who would have been a threat to election integrity if they had won Tuesday. Most either lost or seem on their way to losing. Meanwhile, Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state of Georgia who stood up to Trump’s bullying, won by a wide margin.
Because Democrats restrained their more extreme tendencies while Republicans didn’t,
On abortion and many other issues, the median voter rule still applies.
To be clear, I am not saying the fever has broken within the minds of those in the MAGA movement.
I am not saying MAGA Republicans won’t unleash a lot of looniness in the next Congress.
I am saying voters have built a wall around that movement to make sure it no longer wins the power it once enjoyed.
I am saying voters have given Republicans clear marching orders — to do what Democrats did and beat back the populist excesses on their own side.
There are two large truths I’ll leave you with.
The first is that both parties are fundamentally weak.
The Democrats are weak because they have become the party of the educated elite.