Yeah I uh... I honestly don't know what to say. I am not aware of any successful models for resisting a fascist demagogue  once they have seized executive power.

I'm taking a 24 hour hiatus from venting spleen to conquer certain academic activities. TTFN.

Arsonist In Chief

One of the many frightening things going on in the US right now is how the media's carefully cultivated fake neutrality is enabling Orange Muppet Hitler's impending reign. If ever there was a time when we needed a defiant and oppositional press it is right now. I don't know enough about contemporary journalism to criticism them, but you see articles like this and you wonder why the headline isn't

"President Elect continues to stonewall on conflicts of interest" 


or something a little more critical.

It should be clear by now that Drumpf is going to employ the age old technique of slash and burn to get the most out of his presidency. All his appointee picks thus far have been sighted gleefully running around with torches and machetes just waiting until they can get in to the fertile rainforest of the United States Civil Service and start clearing out plots to sell off to the highest bidder. Drumpf isn't going to let his cronies get all that filthy, filthy public lucre and then keep it to themselves. He's going to make a deal! He's a smart guy! If anyone is going to funnel federal education dollars in to private christian creationist charter magnets the orangest man in the room is going to get his cut.

The big question is whether there will be an American Civil Service left in 2020. They've been hammered by decades of fail-deadly Republican policies, spending freezes, hiring freezes, furloughs, and other violence against the structure of Government, the gleeful hack job that's going to begin January 20th is going to do damage that may take decades to repair.

Note to self: Find something pithier than Orange Muppet Hitler. Or just set up a keyboard shortcut to type it automatically.

EDIT: Damn. In the time it took me to type this WaPo changed their headline from something about how Drumpf postponed an announcement about resolving his conflict of interest. Now it says he'll hand things over to his sons? Isn't the internet a wonder? Letting the media make excuses for politicians in real time!

Alright, folks, we're up and running again.

The question is, what to run about? It's obvious really. There's only one game in town.

What the fuck is the world supposed to do with Drumpf? Orange Muppet Hitler is cozying up to Putin and every one of his appointee picks is an arsonist pillager ideally suited to loot and then burn their agency. He's pissing off the Chinese for asinine reasons (unless he just wants them to cancel his debt). And he's got a list of conflicts of interest that would legitimately take a very long time to list and explain. He's a nightmare. He's the nightmare of our age. All of America's anti-intellectualism and racism and exceptionalism and bile congealed in to one weird orange artificially turfed package.

It's going to be an exciting four years and I want to make sure my voice is heard before Drumpf re-writes our libel laws and makes this sort of thing a summary execution offense.

So strap in, buckle up, keep on hand on the fire extinguisher, this jalopy is getting back on the highway.