I'm not going to even pretend, man.

  I suppose I should put something down. I plumb forgot Thursday and didn't think about it until around 3 a.m., and by the time I got good and woken up, I just wasn't feeling it. Nobody cares, though, we all know that. I regularly get a "like" at the WordPress site from one guy, but I'm pretty sure that's a bot. There's no way he could read all that as quickly as it says.

 Speaking of which, we should get that out of the way. Monday was about Joe Biden's attempts to raise taxes on the wealthy; meaning, probably not you so calm down. We looked into the recall attempt against California governor Gavin Newsom Wednesday and why it was a waste of time. Friday was a run-down of the "Justice for J6" rally that was supposed to go down in Washington, D.C., today yet turned out to be a humorous bust.

 I haven't heard of anything similar happening anywhere in the rest of the country but the D.C. to-do drew something like 400 people, more or less. The running gag is the protestors were outnumbered by the press and police, and that probably wasn't far from the truth. I imagine there are a couple of reasons for this. For one, this didn't have the money behind it the Great American Temper Tantrum had. Lots of folks spent lots of money to get people to Washington on that day and that was nowhere to be seen today.

 Plus, I imagine the increased police presence had something to do with it. There was no fooling around by the fuzz today. They were thick on the ground and loaded for bear. In any event, this whole thing had deflated in on itself by the time this week came around, with so-called organizers trying to keep protestors from raising too much hell or from showing up at all.

 Running commentary on Twitter from the wingnuts was that the thing was a joke because it was mostly press and/or fuzz instead of Real Americans, which really isn't a ringing endorsement for that bunch. But that whole scene has been screwy from day one. Some are trying to say that this represents a dwindling of Trump's influence on the GOP. I don't know if that's so. By the time the election came around, he'd pissed away most of his support among the non-faithful.

 I really think the vast bulk of never-Trump GOP had no problem with his actual policies so much as the vulgar way he went about them. For the most part, they were ranch standard Republican policies. Fewer taxes on the rich, less oversight for corporations, more restrictions on women's bodily autonomy, more emphasis given to religious extremism, none of that is all that weird. What were his babies - like the disaster economic dealings with China and him getting rooked by North Korea - weren't really enough to make them lose hope but they certainly didn't help after he salted the Earth.

 He still has the true blue and I doubt anything will shake them too much. That's sort of the definition of a fanatic, a lack of clear thinking when it comes to their precious. How is this going to play out for 2022 or 2024? I don't know and anyone who says they do is full of shit as a Christmas goose.

 So there's that there then. If something comes up, I'll come back but don't count on it. It's just one of those days.

Charlie is my darling.

  We have to drive to Memphis this evening. Little Brother's coming for a visit and we have to get him at the airport. His plane lands at 10:30 p.m. local time, so this is as good an excuse as any to get this done.

 I haven't seen him since the Thanksgiving before this whole COVID thing started. He and his wife live out in Oregon and they don't get out here much. I don't blame them. He's had this trip planned and booked since before the whole Delta surge started in on us, and by the time things go out of hand, it was too late to get a refund.

 He's had the shot and Oregon has put more effort into not letting the jackasses run things. Hell, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the head of the State Department of Health, is getting threats and people are claiming his getting kickback from the World Bank. So I'm more worried that he might pick up something here, even being on the airplane is safe than just walking around Mississippi.

 So there's that there then. It'll at least give Momma someone else to fuss over for a couple of days. He's got me a hook-up in the works, too, so that's nice. I'll say it again, I don't understand how or, more importantly, why people do this on purpose.

 Anyhow. I'll probably save it for tomorrow's News but according to the White House, over 70,000 people have been airlifted from Afghanistan. The goal is to be over and done with by the end of the month and they say that looks to be doable. It's still unknown just how many people, Afghans and Americans, are in-country, but for the most part, it seems to be going fairly smoothly. The Taliban isn't making too much of a fuss about things but they seem to have noticed a "brain drain" going on, and I don't know what they expected. It's not like they're known for fostering freedom of thought.

From all I can tell, the evacuation is going as the White House claims. This is from both national and foreign news sources, but everyone agrees that folks are getting out if they want. It's pissing off the GOP and Trumpists, but fuck them, they're scum anyway. I still find it laughable that all this is dropped on Biden's lap after 20 years and that anyone truly thought it would go off in some fashioned other than harried. I also find it laughable that either the press or the average American wants people to believe they've given Afghanistan a second thought in 15 years, particularly conservatives.

 Charlie Watts died today. He was 80. Tom T. Hall died this past Friday. He was 85. Venerable years, especially in the music business. I haven't heard what the Stones are going to do but I really can't see how they go on as the Rolling Stones without him. Bill Wyman quitting took a chunk out of them and there's no shame in calling it a day after spending nearly 60 years as The World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band.

 That's good enough for now, I think. Nothing earth-shaking but it's nice to be able to put something down without having to pull teeth. If something interesting happens between here and Memphis, perhaps I'll come back.

That picker there's in trouble, boy, ain't nothin' but another side of you.

  I suppose we should get on this. I've got nothing and, for the most part, I don't care. I've been shut down most of the day and still buried alive in the blues. It's too damn hot, my knee's killing me, and I'm just too burnt out to deal with it, man.

 Okay, but the News. Pretty good week, mainly because the House Select Committee drama has kept things entertaining. I'll say it again, I did not see the particular rope-a-dope Nancy Pelosi pulled with her denial of Jims Jordan and Banks. Again, it should go on record that I'm not one of these folks who thinks old-timers like Pelosi are being shucked by the GOP. At worst, they're playing by rules the Republicans no longer feel the need to even acknowledge, but given the media landscape and the basic gullibility of the American public, they haven't much choice.

 That's one thing I really don't think people get about American politics, the effect public opinion has on the parties' boundaries. People instantly assume, for example, the GOP is financially thrifty when every time in the past fifty years that the debt has run out of control has been under a Republican administration. People think Democrats are soft on national defense, i.e. bombing the shit out of countries that can't really fight back, and that's just not true, either. And so on and so forth.

 People have a hard time accepting the Republican Party's total acceptance and capitulation to Donald Trump because he's, well, a celebrity with the morals of a guttersnipe. He's replaced Reagan as their god, and the only reason he got as far as he did in politics is because of his Hollywood connections. And to be honest, every Republican president back to at least Ike has been a pig, with the possible exception of George W. Bush. As odd as that might sound, it's true enough.

 Anyhow. Enough of that for now. That's News and I'll save it for the News. I'll need something to write about tomorrow night, anyway. I don't know what else to write about tonight, though. Best I can tell, it's been two weeks since I've played video game one and most of my reading has been different cosmic horror stories based on Lovecraftian lore. I've been blowin' my harps, sure, but that's just a part of breathing these days.

 My brother's coming to visit next month and if I can come up with a subtle way of asking him to get me some of the good smoke, I will. I don't want to put him on the spot, given how shit the mail is these days and that I'm basically asking him to commit a felony.

 Now that I think about it, I watched Dagon last night. It's a Spanish horror film based on the Lovecraft story The Shadow Over Innsmouth, which to be frank, is one of the Lovecraft go-to stories I never have cared for. It stinks way, way too much of Henry Phillip's issues with people who aren't proper white folks breeding with each other. I don't understand why it's so popular as opposed to something like The Statement of Randolph Carter, but there you go.

 I think that's good enough for now.

Stand right up and yell.

  I completely forgot to do this yesterday evening. I thought about it earlier in the day, but I went to sleep pretty early due to a large meal and didn't think about it until the 5 a.m. pee break. I thought about letting it ride since there's a good chunk of Actual Paying Work I can get done this week, but I know better to write checks my ass won't bother to cash.

 So, I'll doodle around until I get inclined to take a nap. I will get to the News tonight; I'm still finding that much easier to do for whatever reason. I would've never thought I'd appreciate a regular, set deadline, but there you go.

 The blue funk I've been in hasn't gone away, obviously. It hasn't gotten any worse, though, so that's something, I guess. "Disassociated" was the word I was looking for the other day. I feel disconnected and unattached from the rest of the world. One reason - and this is a really good reason, I think - is because the rest of the world isn't worth being a part of. Which is cynical and probably a bit elitist, I'm sure - it's not like I have much to offer anyway - but it's gotten pretty goddamn stupid out there.

 The Delta variant is going to be nasty. I don't have any hard science to base that one on, but the hard 180 the GOP leadership has taken on vaccination speaks volumes. Steve Scalise said yesterday he's going to get the jab, and that evil bastard is a pretty good canary-in-the-coalmine for the party as a whole. And yes, I'm counting Sean Hannity and the Fox News crew as part of the GOP leadership. Let's not bullshit ourselves here.

 I never could figure out the end game for allowing the anti-vax wing of conservatism to take over, but the shift is pretty easy to grok. Apparently, the Stock Market went into freefall yesterday and that's probably got them jumping. It does no good to point out the hypocrisy of Mitch McConnell calling for vaccinations, but there you go. It is laughable, however, the suggestion that Joe Biden should ask Trump to come out in favor. Whether or not it's good politics on Biden's part is irrelevant; Trump would just spend the opportunity to complain about losing again.

 This hasn't trickled down to the Base, of course, as they're full-on in favor of the idea that the Illuminati is trying to do gene therapy and make them mindless consumers. Them not knowing what HIPAA laws cover is making a resurgence, and that foul beast Marjorie Greene actually laughed when asked about how the Delta variant.

 And that's the rub. Congressional Republicans who got their vaccinations as soon as they became available can beg and plead all they want. The pack of mad vandals and whiny honkies they've nursed and encouraged for the past 30 years, just to be dumped for the first celebrity to come along, will most certainly let their kids die to own the libs. It's foolish to think otherwise, and all we're going to be able to do is hopefully pick up the pieces afterward.

 Okay, then. That's word count. I could do more but I don't want to.

Ain't a pity. Ain't it a cryin' shame.

  I really need to quit sleeping as much as I do. Wake up, eat something, read a little bit, walk around outside for a bit, go back to sleep. Rinse and repeat, maybe throw some video game time or harmonica time or, occasionally, movie time, but otherwise, rinse and repeat. It's not healthy, especially at my age, neither mentally nor physically.

 But honestly, it's all I want to do. Again I'm going to punt the Hohner harmonica run down, but you get what you pay for. I've been getting into the Divinity: Original Sin games and I've made some headway into both, but I don't feel like writing about either. They're good, you know this. I've been re-reading a lot of Hunter Thompson instead of anything else because he's fun to read.

 I don't know why this is, but it is. I'm not in a great mood but what the hell, you know? I'm always, even at my best, slightly irritated about something, whether personal or beyond my grasp. I've learned to live with it. People are giving this more attention, but I still don't understand why people's hairs aren't on fire. The state of Florida is actively threatening teachers and students if they don't show proper ideology.

 But no, it's just that wacky Ron DeSantis and his kooky right-wing buddies doing their thing. You almost have to expect it, I'm told. Just because the grubby little punk doesn't pretend to be anything but a cut-rate fascist bully boy because that's what the barking dingbats want. Have you seen the video of "concerned parents" losing their minds at school board meetings over what they think Critical Race Theory is? These are the same people who wouldn't go to a meeting to discuss funding for after-school activities or anti-bullying measures if you held them at gunpoint.

 Kids are great but the parents are invariably assholes.

 Well, enough of that. The midnight hour is sneaking up on me and, frankly, I'm most inclined to just go back to bed. Read a little bit, listen to some good music, and let it ride. I'm obsessed with harmonica music these days. I bet you've I've listened to the same Big Walter Horton collection a dozen times over in the past week. The man had a tone big as all outdoors.

 Fifteen minutes, a little over 115 words. Think, think, think, but the words don't come. When I have something to write about, it's no problem. There's no end to stomach-churning horseshit going on that fits "the News," like that collapsing apartment building in Miami. Goddamn Tucker Carlson asked if it was "intentional" because collapsing apartment buildings are something that happens in "third-world nations." Between this and the "anti-white mania," that people still pay attention to this evil little twit after he got his shit pushed in by friggin' Jon Stewart twenty years ago makes me despair for the republic.

 It's too hot and too humid. I hate Summer in the South. It's miserable here as it was miserable in New Orleans, North Georgia, and Central Florida. I need to figure out a way to spend June through September in Vermont or someplace like that. Stay in the South for the Spring and Fall and head out to the desert for Winter. I'm assuming it's nice in the desert during the Winter. I'm sure it's dryer, anyway.

 I ought to look into that.

If I had my way, I'd never get the urge to roam.

  I've put this off all evening because I just haven't been in the mood. But it's fifteen after eleven and I should see if I can't get something done before midnight.

 I'm a little burnt out on paying attention to things. Woke, cancel culture, critical race theory, should we be paying attention to Trump announcing he's starting a LiveJournal, blah blah and increasingly blah. I don't know whether this is a result of having a president who's still in the boring phase of his presidency and one who is, well, boring. I can understand a little the idea the Bigtime Press is having trouble dealing with Life After Trump.

 That being said, I can also agree with folks who make up said press' readership saying how goddamn tired they are of reporters trying to keep Trump in the news. Well, trying to make "Biden's people react to Trump" is what they're considering news, apparently. On the plus side, it's always a good laugh when Press Secretary Jen Psaki rhetorically smacks some overpaid goofball's hand for asking a dumbass question about Trump.

 Still, Trump is important to the GOP. They're trying the eviscerate Lynn Cheney and Mitt Romney for their disloyalty to that weird asshole. It's very, very silly. I knew he'd have an outsized impact on the future of the GOP, but this is ridiculous. The flipside of all this is everyone who wants to stay in with the base is a complete douchebag on Twitter while complaining on the Sunday morning television shows how Big Tech and Big Media are censoring them. That geek Josh Hawley actually said while being interviewed on tv by that the reporter couldn't "cancel, censor or silence" him which is what he considers "asking a question clarifying a statement" as he hawks his new "vote for me for president in 2024" book.

 Like I said, tedious. Even more tedious is the drawers-twisting outrage conservatives are having on critical race theory. Everything is CRT. Diversity training is CRT. History that puts forth the controversial idea that chattel slavery was "bad" is CRT. Acknowledging the systematic racism that affected the lives of African Americans throughout the 20th century still has an impact on culture is CRT. Affirmative Action is CRT. 

 It's so dumb. I'm not interested in debating the merits of CRT but, for the record, I don't really see a problem with it. It's driven white folks nuts, though, to the point where anti-CRT types have slipped right over the edge of common sense. I saw one goob claimed writers Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright disproved CRT, which tells me this person not only doesn't know what CRT is, he's never read a lick from the two authors' work. Guess they learned the name of another Black intellectual besides Dr. King.

 Okay. I don't know if I can squeeze out any more. I do have some Actual Paying Work this week, due Friday. I don't know how that will affect this week's output, but who knows. I've been playing The Witcher 3 the last couple of days and I think I've got into the groove of the game. I may have to take a break, though, the thing is so goddamn dense. I'm also bouncing around with a couple of books and haven't found one that holds my attention. Nothing but harmonicas these days, y'all.

I read about it free in a fifty-cent illustrated guide.

 I don't know where or how to start, so I'll just start. It's cold and gloomy here, raining most of the day. We'd gotten extremely cold earlier in the week, I mean high twenties to low thirties. We're in the forties now with the rain but once it moves out tomorrow morning sometime it's going to drop back down to colder than it needs to be.

 Interesting as hell, I know, but the rest of the world is exhausting. COVID-19 continues to gallop. We've had two days in a row with over 2,000 new cases here in Mississippi and over 2,000 deaths across the U.S. California's looking at a necessary lockdown, and Thursday Night Football was canceled because of the teams being too sick.

 I posted a tweet about a Valley boy coming down with the virus and got a very good essay on what folks can do to protect themselves. It's called "What you can do if someone you know gets a COVID-19 infection or exposure," and it was written by a gentleman named Scott Liebrand. He's a "network architect" out in Seattle, but the piece has information from a doctor, one Dr. Howard Liebrand, MD.

 It's all basic, common sense stuff, but that seems to be in short supply these days. Apparently, a couple from New Mexico tested positive but decided a trip to Hawaii was still a killer bee idea. Joe Biden says he'll ask Americans to wear masks for 100 days once his term starts. This will only be a request but I'm sure it's a matter of time before the Wingnut World will decide they're being oppressed.

 Speaking of the Presiden-elect, Trump and his cultist are still fighting against reality but manage to prove they're little more than a sad pack of ignorant bastards. I'm sure everyone interested enough has seen the video of the drunk lady rambling on or Rudy Giuliani cutting a fart, and lucky for them, none of this is happening in a court of law. Meanwhile, Arizona's certified for Biden and Trump's people lost another motion for a hearing to junk nearly 20,000 votes.

 It's fairly ridiculous, especially since the Base cannot accept that so many people across the political spectrum loathed Trump. I mean, people hated his guts. Even Bush Jr. or Reagan haven't garnered this much hatred from so many people, and I know plenty of folks who consider those two absolute monsters. As awful as Trump is, even I don't think he carries the same amount of sin as Bush Jr. and Reagan. Close, but not near.

 But America hates his guts, MAGA folks, and you really need to accept that. You are a minority. Even among the 74 million that voted for him, I'd be willing to bet most people that did held their nose to do so because they were worried about the incoming socialism of "Red" Joe Biden, et al. You're not only a small percentage of the population, you're a joke and people think you're pathetic.

 "How did so many people vote for a guy who hid in his basement and didn't campaign." Simple, for one, they hate Trump, remember? That moved a lot of folks. For two, Biden didn't "hide in his basement" and he actually did a fairly smart campaign. He just didn't have those weird rallies you weirdos treated like Beatles concerts.

 They hate his kids, too, you know. Ivanka's bellyaching because she's having to testify about one of their cheesy motels getting government money and whining about being persecuted. Lady, they hate your guts. They hate your weasel husband, both your brothers, the younger's dullard wife and the older's screwball side piece. They felt sorry for Tiffany until she showed her true colors as a Trump. But they really hate you. The MAGA folks love you but they are a minority.

 And Republicans are starting to devour each other. Dan Crenshaw, the complete jackass Representative from Texas, said Lin Wood shouldn't be telling Georgians not to vote in the January run-off. Michelle Malkin, trying to be relevant again, is leading the MAGA charge in calling him a globalist, a RINO, and the source of all evil. Good. The Republican Party and, indeed, the conservative infrastructure needs to be destroyed, smashed into pieces, burned into ashes, and then buried.

 If they do it to themselves, so much the better.

I can't come up with anything and I haven't figured out how to write out guitar hooks.

  We're on Day 14 of the 2020 United States Presidential Election. The needle really hasn't moved, except the Michigan GOP is actively trying to disenfranchise African American votes in Detroit, and Rudy Giuliani's attempts at arguing Trump's claims in court are, in a word, comical. Someone else compared it to a Lionel Hutz bit from The Simpsons. To me, it looks like just what it is: a not-particularly-good lawyer trying to turn bullshit into buttermilk when he hasn't worked a case in court in almost 40 years.

 Anyhow. It's been twenty minutes since I wrote the above paragraph. I just don't have much going on tonight, I guess. We'll run for word count, but I surely don't know what I'll fill this space with.

 I'm still working on the Brian Greene book. Those things are pretty meaty. Even dumbed down to a layman's level, physics and cosmology books are always heavy, even when the writing is sharp. Greene usually is, but still. It's heavy subjects that require heavy thinking, and I usually wind up reading some Hunter Thompson to calm down.

 Trump fired his cybersecurity guy Chris Krebs because the man debunked one of the Boss' many, many false claims concerning his crushing defeat in the election two weeks ago. But so much for all that. I am still sick to the teeth of writing about the goddamn election and that cheap bastard's refusal to accept reality or, for that matter, the brainless chumps that believe every hint of bullshit like it was Gospel.

 I'm going to indulge in a little loose thinking, so feel free to skip the next couple of paragraphs. A lot is been made of the fecklessness of the Democratic Party the last couple of days. And feckless they are, let's make no bones about it. There's some talk about who Biden will appoint to his cabinet and, as equally galling to some, who he will not appoint. Put it this way, he doesn't need to screw around too much with the makeup of the Senate right now.

 One thing sticking in the leftist/liberal craw is the intimation that the Biden Administration might not pursue legal action against the Trump Administration once the former gets settled in the White House. Now, I admit, I'm not keeping too close attention on this particular stroke, so I'm not sure there actually is anything they can nail him on. The New York attorney general has first dibs on his orange hide and there's nothing the White House can do about that.

 However, while we again do not dispute the basic gormlessness of the Democrats these days, one does wonder if they're not doing the best they can under the circumstances. One thing most people forget is they have to cover a lot of ground, from far-leftist loons like me to Republicans genuinely embarrassed about being lumped in with pea-brained fascists and everything in between, plus the big money men.

 Furthermore, and I know people will dispute this because it's easier than thinking, I think the Trump Years have taught us the Big-Time Media is easier on the Republican Party. How long did it take them to say the president is a liar? How many puff pieces have we seen trying to figure out why Trump supporters worship him when it can be easily explained as "Americans love authoritarian assholes?" They've not changed in five years, what's so hard about this? They abandoned George W. Bush because he refused to be quite that awful and Sarah Palin when she couldn't keep the grift going, is it so surprising they'd go for a celebrity who's pretended to be a business shark?

 It wasn't all that different during the Bush Administration, really. It plays into familiar narratives and that's always easier than thinking. We pretend affordable healthcare and guaranteed wages are some sort of socialist pipe dream while we also pretend "pro-life" actually is or that morality is only white, Christian, and financially successful regardless of how it got there. So, they're up against a lot. That's not suggesting they're above criticism or, indeed, current criticism should let up. One of the reasons the GOP is so successful despite being a black hole of politics is their message of greed and exclusion doesn't require much work.

 I don't know what else. I've been listening to a lot of Taj Mahal lately. For the longest time, I never really ventured outside his earlier records but I've come around. A lot of Cannonball Adderly, too. It's great stuff to fall asleep to, for whatever it's worth. I've been finding really low-quality horror movies on Tubi or ShoutFactoryTV diverting as well. Just awful shit, but hey, they're free. Can't beat that with a stick.

 I guess that's plenty for today. As always, if something comes to mind I'll come back around. Otherwise, catch y'all at the News tomorrow.

The more I learn, the less I want to know.

 At some point during the night, someone planted the seed in Trump's empty noggin that Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old man that cracked his skull on the concrete after a Buffalo cop pushed him over, not only faked the whole scenario but he's also an agent of AntiFa. By the time I got up this morning, not even 8 a.m., the hooting morons that make up not just the Base but the bulk of the Republican party is either considering it gospel truth, a reasonable possibility, or that since he was a liberal he deserved it anyway.

 No, really,  I've seen the pictures with circles drawn around what the nuts think is a hidden hose that pumped the fake blood that looked to spill out of his ear. Even dumber, he was apparently using some sort of James Bond doo-dad to drop an EMP on the cops' walkie talkies. No, really. And this is after the Buffalo DA has noted Gugino's serious head injuries and there have been pictures of him in intensive care.

 This is coming off the NYPD police commissioner - who makes $99 grand a year - tried to claim that concrete samples were evidence of AntiFa mixing cement in the ice cream. It's also coming off the Minnesota fuzz admitting they'd been slashing protesters' tires and a cop's wife admitting she blamed a fake home invasion on Black Lives Matter. And all this is being taken seriously by the Powers That Be as well as the Corporate Press.

 Speaking of them, the whole "Defund The Police" has got them in a serious tizzy. Liberals and leftists are arguing back and forth that it's poor branding or some other goofy shit, all the while actually pretending the Republicans will act in good faith on this regardless of what's meant by "defunding the police" or that the CP won't run with an easy, juicy story instead of actually putting some journalism to work and possibly rocking the boat of the Status Quo.

 And it's already been denied by Joe Biden. There's absolutely no reason to be having this discussion in this manner, but here we are. And the real silly "leftists" are losing their absolute shit about Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats kneeling while wearing a Kente cloth. This is two-fold. It gives them the opportunity to pretend to be outraged and shocked that politicians are acting like politicians, but also gives them - generally middle-class white bourgeoisie folks who'll be fine regardless how November 2020 turns out - an excellent opportunity to ignore what is in all actually a fairly decent police reform bill.

 Is it perfect? No. Was that pandering? Yes. That's politics, baby, and the extreme naivete and ignorance from these clowns is driving me up the wall. It's way, way too much stupid for a poor boy with a bad case of XCOM head to wake up to. So, yeah, this is another day in our ongoing experiment on "writing today's nonsense before my nap". So far, so good, more or less.

 That being said, I think I'm either running out of irritation at the laziness and stupidity of humanity or my ratty sleeping schedule is catching up with me. I've made word count, so I think I'll tie this off. Perhaps I'll come back to it after my nap. But if I can leave you with anything, let it be this: listen, think and shut the hell up. Just because you have a megaphone doesn't mean you have to tell everyone you have nothing interesting to say.

Who's gonna work & let the economy grow if we all hang out in the street? Well, I don't know & I don't care, just as long as it ain't me.

 I'm in a fairly foul mood, so fair warning. The world is a mess, this country is filled with dingbats, this state is run by cheap grifters, and I'm still not getting enough decent sleep.

 I'm not linking to it, but Cenk Uygar tweeted out how if we get a Democratic president "with balls," they'd completely cut off the Red States and make them come begging for federal aid so as to punish them for electing Republicans as state leaders. You see this a lot, people wanting the South to secede again or arguing that they should've never been allowed back in the union. If they have any shame at all, they'll claim they're "just blowing off steam" over frustration at how denizens in those states always managed to screw it for the rest of us. They don't mean it, they claim.

 And that is, of course, complete bullshit. Mean it or not, just saying it - even to "blow off steam," deservedly or not - just shows you how much they don't care. And I'm not talking about white liberals/leftists being cast adrift. Nearly 40% of Mississippi's population is African American. Atlanta and New Orleans, along with having large black populations, are havens for LGBT folks. And it's not just the "undocumented workers" packing your food and picking your vegetables. The most red Midwest and West has an enormous Chicano population, most who can trace their families back before there was an America, much less a "progressive movement" much less a suburban middle class.

 And speaking of time spent compared to middle-class honkies, there are still plenty of Native tribes in red states who have been screwed, blued and tattooed by the federal government, sure, but the states don't have the best record, either. Probably what made for the final blow for Bernie Sanders' 2020 nomination run was giving up on the South just before Super Tuesday. The argument, not necessarily from him but definitely from his lieutenants, was that since the South was going red in November anyway, there was no reason to bother with them. And people wonder why Southern black folks went overwhelmingly for Biden.

 Bringing it all back around to Uyagr's nonsense, there is and has been a large strain bourgeoisie attitude towards anyone who didn't come up middle-class white and from the suburbs. You can deny this all you want, but I've seen it go all the way back to the implosion of the Greens after Ralph Nader (who's leftist bonafides are suspect to say the least). They put a few people in elected positions in a few cities, all of whom were out the door before Bush's first term was over. Then they sit on their thumbs before rolling out Dr. Jill Stein in 2016 to get stomped and then embezzled money that was supposed to go to a state recount, and that's the last we heard of it.

 Again, I'm in a bad mood and will probably regret this, but outside of work in certain cities and decent-sized towns, the "progressive movement" in America is horseshit geared more for yuppie spawn to pretend like they care until they knock each other up and start worrying about "safer neighborhoods". They don't really care about Southern or Western states, they don't care about rural areas, and concern for urban areas is more lip service than anything else while they pretend "medicare for all" and "American foreign policy".

And I hate to break it too y'all, but the money made off "American foreign policy" has way, way too much swing in this country to be too much damaged by one dude. Sanders would've fallen in line or wound up dead in a ditch. Neither he nor Elizabeth Warren were that big a danger to the groups of people who make money off blowing up brown people across the sea. I don't know how you goofballs think Jesse Ventura's the new Great White Hope of "progressive politics" when he's as much as anyone is involved with the worst horrors of the Bush Jr. Administration. Look up Paul Wellstone, Norm Coleman, how conservative media battered "The Body" into giving the GOP the edge in the Senate, and well... there you go.

 The flip side of this is, of course, the right-wing dingbats who're losing their absolute shit at being asked to hunker down for a bit so the people they actually want to go back to work die from the COVID-19. They're screaming at cashiers, physically attacking game wardens, and some poor bastard was shot to death just for asking folks to wear a goddamn mask. Even when employees are offering the mask the goons are losing their shit. And why? So Karen and Andrew can get a haircut. They're saying it's a "Constitutional" thing, and you know? That's just too dumb to dig into.

 It's been said that this whole push by right-wing politicians and pundits who can stay inside all they want are pushing this and getting the hoi polloi worked up so they can get workers fired and cut their unemployment insurance. This sort of strike would allow them to go further, cutting health insurance and employee safety regulations. Far as I can tell, this scans fairly well. Part of the appeal of being the Upper Class is the chance to enact cruelty on the plebes. And that's one of the main legs of the Republican Party. Cruelty is the point.

 "Matt, you're letting liberals and centrists off the hook." No, because y'all got that covered. I've seen enough chants of "fake news" and "liberals suck" from red roses that I'm pretty confident that, like the MAGAts, they didn't start paying attention to politics until around 2013 or so. Furthermore, they haven't put any effort into learning the history of American politics, much less how it operates from day to day. How the sausage is made, in other words. None of us are innocent, and facing the truth of American politics reminds people of that. Everyone wants to be the hero and no one wants to admit they're just another person keeping their head down.

A lot of this is why I have an affection for anarchism. It's not perfect and there are flaws or places where reality is just flat-out ignored in favor of ideology. However, I don't have to pick a group to join with to pretend I'm not guilty as everyone else. In any event, everyone should read more Emma Goldman, I don't think anyone can argue that. And, lord-a-mighty, do not get me started on just how dumb and ignorant the whole "MSM sucks/fake news" thing people don't want to bother to understand because if they're not going to spoon fed, then they'll kick the bowl away. It's easier than having to use your brain.

 Okay, got that off my chest. Heading back to the world of XCOM and XCOM: Chimera Squad and ignore the rest of the world. If I can remember it, tomorrow's News will focus on just how badly screwed Tate Reeves is with regards to the welfare scandal that's popped up. Hey, we made The New York Times. Big time, baby.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

 Well, shoot. Another day where I really don't have anything kicking around my noggin screaming and clawing to get out. Ah, but we persevere and the Work must be done.

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

 Well, what we all knew would happen happened. I mean, no one's really all that shocked, right? Going into it, any other outcome would've been an uphill climb even without the stumbling blocks that kept getting tossed in the path.

Monday, February 3, 2020

 In a bit of a funk today. I would say it's the same funk I've been in since the beginning of the year, but apparently I was in a good mood yesterday. I have no idea why yesterday was special, because today was just as if not more pleasant, but there you go. Scrambled brain chemistry doesn't have to make sense.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

 Momma bought her a Jamey Johnson CD, The Dollar, from Amazon, so she gets the MP3's along with the physical CD. I have Amazon Prime Music Unlimited so she's playing her new album as well as discovering the 300-plus Gigs worth of music I have on there. That should keep her occupied for a few days.

 She's also in a really good mood with lots of energy. See, Momma's 70, has had torn ACL in both knees, had one kneecap replaced and is overweight. In the last couple of days she's been going to the gym at ICC, and after a long, long time of trying to find one that's right for her - particularly here in Northeast Mississippi - she's hit pay dirt with this one. She says she's got so much energy she's worried what's going to happen, because that's how her mind works.

 I tell her enjoy it because I feel like someone sucked the life right out of me. I don't know if it's the front that's moved - it's rained like pouring piss out of a boot all day - or because I've been out of lithium since Monday. It's been refilled, so hopefully that'll whack me out of this mood. Granted, this is just another fluctuation in the sour frame of mind I've been in since the first of the year. Might just be the Brand New Year Blues, I don't know.

 Part of it is frustration with this. I've been pounding away at this gibberish for six months plus, now, and it's still pretty much the same gibberish it was when I started. I am still enjoying myself but one thing that's bugged me for years is a lack of purpose, a lack of direction for my existence, and frankly, I'm not finding one here. Fun is fun, sure, but maybe I've spent too much time having fun. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly fine with leaving no footprint on the sands of time, and a hard look around makes me glad I'm not leaving anything behind when I leave.

 Ah, well. Dark thoughts and foul moods. My cynicism is getting the best of me and I'm finding myself with less patience with the rest of the world. Twitter gives too many people with too little to say too much of a platform, and our only recourse is to be that much more vapid and unoriginal. It's all performative and glamour without actual substance, it feels like. Which is, of course, arrogant as hell of me. Where do I get off passing judgement on everyone else's plasticity when I've got nothing going on inside.

 Anyhow. The third day of Impeachment is in swing, and it seems the GOP strategy is to not pay any attention through the actual trial while expressing outrage that anyone would dare question that Prince of Men, Donald Trump. The Democrats are providing a good case and there's still something like six Republican Senators on the bubble, but when the rubber hits the road, they're doing what they're told.

 Again, the GOP spent the past 30 years getting the base in the mood to attach themselves to a charismatic authoritarian who'd threaten "enemies", be they foreign countries or the U.S. press or even just people who didn't vote for him. What they didn't expect, though, is Trump's ascendancy, someone who'd take that spot with none of the subtlety or skill that American politics requires. Reagan, Nixon, either Bushes would've gotten away with something similar if all they cared about was pleasing The Base. That's all Trump cares about, though, because The Base feeds his ego and they would be perfectly happy if the last thing all of his "enemies" saw the barrel of a gun.

 I don't know. I'm just in a mood. Here's another link to the Willie Nash petition and another example of how half-ass Mississippi runs its prisons. Again, though, the average Mississippian is fine with this, because the cruelty is the point. We're a very Puritan/Hobbsian nation and especially state sometimes. I am about a third of the way through Pillars of Eternity II and spent most of my waking moments today reading Jorge Luis Borges short stories while listening to Johann Sebastian Bach while it rained all day.

 Let's be honest, if nothing else, that's not a bad way to spend the day.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

 Today would have been Sam Cooke's 89th birthday. My advice to you? Go listen to his 1963 album Night Beat. You'll feel better about whatever it is.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

 Still out of it and disinclined to get back into it. This is the fifth or maybe sixth day in a row for this sort of mood. In the same state, I'm not really into doing this, either, but we do have our pride.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

 The rain's set in and it's been pouring down all day. They're getting it worse south of us with some wind and thunder, and as soon as I wrote that out a not-insignificant peel of thunder rolled through. Otis is not allowed to go outside, though, and he is in high dudgeon. So, let's go.

Monday, December 16, 2019

 I'm going to go ahead and knock as much of this as I can. We got some fierce weather to the north of us and to the south of us. Heavy winds, lightning, a few killer tornadoes, the whole nine yards. Stay above water, kids. At any given moment, the power might blip out and it could last all evening. Let's hope it don't.