Tell me again, but I don't think you'll convince me.

  Well, hellfire. I laid down for a quick nap after supper and damn near slept the night way. It's almost 10:30 p.m. Hillbilly Standard Time and I haven't written anything. I don't really want to write anything, but c'est la vie. At least we can eat with links to this week's News.

 A good week as it turns out. Monday was a look into all the screwy stuff going on in the Trump Administration, noting, in particular, the firing of Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and the shenanigans of GS Emily Murphy. Because the former got more interesting by Wednesday, we explored the wholesale packing of the Pentagon with Trump localists. Friday we came back home and looked at just how badly the Trump Administration and Gov. Tate Reeves have muffed the whole COVID-19 thing for Mississippi. Five days hand-running of more than 1,000 coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period.

 The whole time, Trump's crushing defeat got more and more evident and the record-tying Hurricane Eta kicked the shit out of Central America. Today we find ourselves looking down the barrel of another hurricane, the twentieth this season. And, of course, Trump's victory in this, the eleventh day of the 2020 Presidential Election, becomes more and more a dream as President Pissybritches loses more and more court cases trying to deny reality. He's something 1-20 now, and that one covered less than a thousand votes.

 Today finds the Proud Boys marching on Washington, D.C., in support of the giant whiner they've decided is the New Messiah. There have apparently been a couple of crashes between those dopes and Antifa and/or BLM counterprotesters, but far as I can tell, nothing serious. The D.C. fuzz got involved to protect the MAGAts before things got too serious and the president's egging them on to engage in more violence, because of course.

 That sort of sums up my feelings towards the Proud Boys, for what it's worth. I know I should take them more seriously as a bunch of xenophobic racist, sexist homophobes, but despite being a cis straight white guy, and thus not someone they'd challenge. But they're ridiculous goofballs without the System protecting them. Sure, they're a danger because they tend to be heavily armed and they're the biggest argument for severe gun control, but without the backing of the cops, they'd fold like a cheap suit.

 There's a video of a tussle between the groups going around on Twitter that's been selectively edited so as to stir up the Base and the President is encouraging it. Indeed, he's encouraging actual police violence on people who disagree with him politically. And I've now officially written more about the Proud Boys than I have ever wanted to. They are bad people and wouldn't be shit if they didn't have the cops to protect them.

 Y'all, politically charged scuffles are nothing new and they're not going away, particularly when conservatives' idea of "building bridges" is total capitulation. I've said it before, but this country does not have a problem with thuggish authoritarianism. Indeed, we sort of dig having a group of people to kick the shit out of when they point out the Powers That Be aren't playing by the rules they set out.

 It's kind of why I don't put much truck in this whole "Trump's encouraging creeping fascism" because this country has always been just this side of totalitarianism for anyone who doesn't fit in. The idea, of course, is personal freedom, but the truth is the cops will kick the living shit out of you if the government wants your land. Just for one example. Maybe it's getting worse or maybe middle-class white folks are becoming hipper and/or catching some of the shit rain on themselves.

 Okay, so I've gone around a bit. It's 11:30 p.m. and I have word count. I guess I should go ahead and post this, but I really don't want to end on such a sour, downer note. I'm still not seeing much support for Trump outside his cult. They're furious at Fox News. Normal people are sick of the shit from both Trump and Fox. So that's there then.

As I walk this land of broken dreams, I see visions of many things.

  I've been avoiding the world today and trying to ignore everything because I'm not sure I can handle it anymore. We're still coming down from learning just how awful a damn fool the President is and Gov. Tate Reeves has rescinded the mask order for Mississippi. The Proud Boys have a fire under their ass, thanks to the guy who's supposed to represent the whole country, and they're harder than they've ever been in their lives, probably.

 Don't get it twisted. I am not a patriot by nature, at least not how it's usually defined. I don't think this is the "greatest country ever" nor do I see the Constitution as some sort of sacred thing or Democracy as some sort of precious jewel. And I definitely don't feel the Founding Fathers are worth too much attention outside of history class. I mean, I like Tom Paine, personally, but that's been a long time, and a well-built house moves from its foundations.

 At the very best, I see Democracy/Republic/Whatever as a pattern to follow like making a dress and the Constitution a set of rules for what the government can't do. Just because, for example, nationalized health care isn't in the Constitution doesn't mean it's out of bounds. I don't think Trump is "destroying democracy" because, to be quite honest, that was on shaky ground long before he came around. Hell, it's arguable it was all that healthy when Nixon came to town, but again, it's a journey and not a destination.

 So my problem isn't that some high ideals are being tarnished, it's that the players aren't playing by the rules of the game. Pure and simple. Trump's deal with Ukraine? That's against the rules. Same thing with cops being used as judge, jury, and executions, the country's leaders should be held to higher standards. Great power, great responsibility, that whole thing.

 I won't indulge in my darker thoughts about the health of the American Dream. I've referred to what I'm doing with all of this as "post-mortem" of it, riffing on Hunter Thompson's shtick from Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas. That should say something, though. Furthermore, my interest in and empathy with anarchism is very much influenced by my feelings on the health of the country and government. If I thought anything else would work with what we got now, I'd call myself something else, but here we are.

  I don't know if anything can be "saved" or if indeed anything is worth "saving." I do, however, see no reason to be an asshole about things and would rather spend my time doing stuff that leaves the world a little better place. I recognize my luck and privilege in life, and if I want to go through my days like that, I will. As far as the anarchism bit goes, what attracts me is the disdain for unearned hierarchy and authority in general. It's not so much "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" so much as "who gave you the right and what have you done to earn it?" Again, riffing on the Good Doctor, the law changes but I don't see why I should because of it.

 Okay, so the Proud Boys. I know it's dangerous - and another example of that luck and privilege - but I have the hardest time taking these guys seriously. First I heard of them, they were an outgrowth of the GamerGate/"Star Wars is ruined" crowd and they're just a bunch of sad bastards. I remember seeing something that said one of the initiation rituals was naming five cereal brands while the other Boys punch the initiate in the arm. That may not be so, but it's funny as hell so I'm going to ride with it.

 Here in the last couple of years, though, they've become Trump's self-declared brownshirts and his "stand by" shout out gave them all blue-vein throbbers. It's nothing new, of course. They've been saying all they're waiting on was the green light from Trump to do whatever it is they think they're going to do. I for one won't be putting my faith in either the cops or the military to protect the citizenry from them, but I do wonder just what they think they've got going for them. They're not exactly a well-trained militia, so much as a bunch of cosplayers with small dicks.

 Yeah, I have nothing really interesting to say tonight. Been playing a lot of Darkest Dungeon as of late, and if I haven't recommended that already, let me do it now. It's a fun ride and since part of it is keeping your crew sane while fighting Lovecraftian horrors, it's got a little something extra. I don't know if I've got anything else but that, so that's enough for now, I suppose.