Standing in the lonely light of a silver moon with the unexpected destination of my home.

  It never fails. I spend yesterday bragging about easily the nonsense is moving from my brain to the screen and, blap, it squeezes itself off. Typical. I guess part of the problem arises from the simple fact that the shit continuing to go down in Washington is filling my head.

 Which shouldn't be surprising because there is some wacky shit going down there, man. The House is meeting to see about impeaching Trump again, this time for inciting the wilding that went on last Wednesday. So, because the goddamn Capitol chambers were breached by a passel of rabid dingbats and I have no doubt they'd of pulled some horrid shit had they been able to chase down a Congress critter, they put up metal detectors.

 Of course, Republicans squawked. Around 10 or so set off the detectors and refused to have the wand used on them, some jerk just walked around it, and that goofball from Colorado Lauren Boebert just kicked up a massive fuss, claiming she had a permit when she didn't. Were it me, I'd just assume that not only were they all armed but that they're connected in some form or fashion to the folks who pulled that siege Wednesday. Indeed, Mo Brooks and Paul Gosar have direct involvement, apparently, and someone led a group of them through congress on a reconnoiter.

 And it accomplished nothing and will continue to accomplish nothing. Nothing concrete, anyway, I would not be surprised if more blood got spilled before this time next Wednesday. Mostly because it's blatantly obvious these goons don't have a single clue. They keep nailing folks for obviously illegal actions last Wednesday and almost to a man they've said "they didn't mean it because they didn't know" what they were doing was bad.

 How dumb do you have to be to think that will fly and how dumb do you think everyone else is? It's privilege and arrogance, and I don't mean White Privilege (though I'm sure that factors in). Americans seem to truly believe that if they don't think, they can't be held responsible for their actions. We believe that life has a Narrative like the tv shows and movies we watch and that we're the heroes of that Narrative, so everything should turn out okay whatever we do just like it does in the movies. And if we're ignorant about the actual laws and rules of the games we're playing, well, hell that never stopped Bruce Willis in Die Hard or Stallone in Cobra or what have you.

 So it's less something that's happening now because of recent events, but it's something deep and rotten in our culture and national psyche. I don't know if it's a particularly American thing, I just look at it filtered through the American lens that's because this is all I know. I mean, I've been to Canada and Amsterdam and Venice, and they're nice, but those experiences do not measure up to the rest of the 45 years on the planet.

 This means something is Wrong, but we knew that. We're a country founded on slave-owning patricians, breaking every treaty we had with the Native Tribes while we tried to exterminate them like coyotes, a place that didn't give women the vote until 1918 and even then it wasn't all women. And on and on, it's just now here lately we've been putting the effort into living up to the ideals we've always claimed we've had. And that's not even getting into foreign policy because, whoo boy, y'all think that's a new thing? Look up the Monroe Doctrine, neighbors, we've been dicks about that for quite a while.

 You know, in a horrible, twisted way the week's events and the possible nightmares to come are a perfect cap to the 2020 Election and maybe the four years of the Trump Era. Hell, it might be a perfect closer for the first 20 years of the Post-American Century, when Truth burns like alcohol on an open wound. The past year especially has exposed the cracks in the foundations of this country.

 The idea that Capitalism, at least how it's approached, is not only insufficient but it's actively harmful to a large segment of the population. Religion is empty, fame is a drug more dangerous than anything you could smoke, and the government is run by buffoons because that's the way we like it, buddy. You disagree, be prepared to catch bullets because our right to shoot you outweighs your right to not get shot. It's in the Constitution.

 I've been quiet on Twitter and doing my best to avoid the news beyond writing The News, and I wish I could make myself take a break from all of it. I know I can't, though, not completely. This isn't a noble thing nor is it an addiction, it just is. Talking with the Psyche Doc yesterday, we both noted how staying stoned all the time was an attempt to block out the entire world, being fine with blocking out the good if the bad was as well. There's something to that and more than one of my fellow riders was of the opinion I indulged in too much of the good smoke.

 Maybe, but damn, it'd be nice to have some now just to take the edge off. Okay for that.

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.

Choo-Choo Charlie had a plenty good band, but he couldn't understand why no one would go.

 Well, since I screwed around yesterday and didn't get the News done until almost 8 p.m. - despite having some Actual Paying Work to do - I figured I might as well knock this out while I'm still awake. Yep. Wound up pulling an all-night, because that's definitely something a 45-year-old man needs to be doing when he's not actually getting paid all that much.

 Anyhow, checkout yesterday's News. I know I usually wait until the weekend to promote it, but it came together well. For some reason, Our Idiot President has decided to go after Bubba Wallace two weeks after that whole thing was eclipsed by the rest of the horror that's been 2020. He's buckling down on snagging the racist vote, it seems. Between this and caping for statues of Confederate generals that were put up 50-plus years after the Civil War specifically to give Black people a middle finger to claiming the Washington Racistname football team was considering changing its name due to political correctness, one assumes this is the pony he's going to ride on into November. He's got nothing else going for him, that's for damn sure.

 It's sad to see the President act this way, but it's disturbing that so many people are buying this hook, line and sinker just because he's saying it. Well, that's not exactly true. Trump getting elected didn't make the people that support him racist. He was elected mainly because the people that support him are racist. They were tedious myopic shitheads before he entered office and they'll be tedious myopic shitheads when he leaves. If we're at all lucky, they'll just be quieter this time around.

 His whole thing with NASCAR and especially the flag business is a puzzler. Granted, I understand why he's doing it - it gets the humanoids hot and bothered and chanting his name, and that's all he cares about - and, really, I understand why the humanoids take him at his word (hint: they're morons). It's still a puzzler that they all buy this like they do. Do they really think this soft-handed Manhattan fancy lad actually gives a shit about "Southern pride" or NASCAR. Remember when John Kerry caught hell for saying something like "of course we all love NASCAR"? I mean, I didn't buy that either, but we're supposed to take this seriously? Sure.

 I'm getting sleepy and draggy. I've been reading a lot of Hunter Thompson, which itself isn't so unusual, but I'm reading more about his early days and why he got into writing. Long story short, I manage to depress myself because I gave it up when I did. We're not all that different, though. He arguably gave it up sometime in the '80s and didn't start producing quality stuff again until the Bush Jr, years. In the context of his whole Death of the American Dream deal, Bush's re-election was definitely when that particular horse was put out of its misery.

 And like I've said, I see my job as exploring the Post Mortem of the American Dream. I hope I'm wrong, but I think we as a culture, country, society is on its last legs. The argument that wearing masks to protect yourself from COVID-19 is some sort of insidious plan by the Illuminati to get people complacent and compliant to be taken over and completely controlled. Seriously. These are the same people who bark like little dogs whenever Tucker Carlson tells them people in San Francisco are shitting in the street. That's a sign of a society too dumb to feed and clothe itself properly.

What is the endgame for this insidious plan of total control? People will work themselves to death at jobs that consider them disposable for not enough money to live on, much less enjoy yourself, while following pinhead, power-hungry ideologues and possibly go into bankruptcy because your kid gets sick? Get 'em to buy useless shit? Hate each other because of the color of their skin and how they chose to live their lives when it doesn't affect anyone else? Mission fucking accomplished, then, I guess.

 Well, it's getting close to noon. I might as well pinch this one off, do the editing and get it ready for posting. Had to break away to help out with a small emergency with my cousin's goats. One of the dangers of living out in the country is everyone lets their dog run loose and dogs can be buttholes. Also, goats have huge nutsacks. I did not know that.