Today's Quote

One of the most horrible features of war is that all the war propaganda - all the screaming and lies and hatred - comes invariably from people who are not fighting.

-- George Orwell

This New Thing

...isn't new at all.

The Doomed
A Perfect Circle

Behold a new Christ
Behold the same old horde
Gather at the altering
New beginning, new word

And the word was death
And the word was without light
The new beatitude
"Good luck, you're on your own"

Blessed are the fornicates
May we bend down to be their whores
Blessed are the rich
May we labor, deliver them more

Blessed are the envious
Bless the slothful, the wrathful, the vain
Blessed are the gluttonous
May they feast us to famine and war

What of the pious, the pure of heart, the peaceful?
What of the meek, the mourning, and the merciful?
All doomed
All doomed

Behold a new Christ
Behold the same old horde
Gather at the altering
New beginning, new word

And the word was death
And the word was without light
The new beatitude: "Good luck"

What of the pious, the pure of heart, the peaceful?
What of the meek, the mourning, and the merciful?
What of the righteous? What of the charitable?
What of the truthful, the dutiful, the decent?

Source: LyricFind

A Perfect Circle

Today's Tweet

God-knobbers - whaddaya gonna doo?.

infallible being cannot create fallible beings unless it wants to

and if it wants to create fallible beings and then punish them for being fallible, then it cannot itself be infallible in the first place, because abject masturbatory sadism is a failing indeed.

— Saint Brian The Godless (@AWorldOutOfMind) January 7, 2020

And Another Thing

OK, the hair-on-fire brigade got all up in arms for good reason, but it turns out that 45* is just a fucking dolt and it seems the world understands this to the point that while they take this shit very seriously, they know now that they have to be the grownups and not go too nuts when he does something that's unbelievably stoopid - even for him.

I have to think there's a strong probability that Iran is just biding their time, and they'll kick us in the nuts when they're good-n-ready.

45* gave a brief statement this morning, and somehow, for now, things are relatively calm again.

WaPo, Paul Waldman:

Five Takeaways From Trump's Deranged Speech On Iran

Having prepared carefully to deliver inspiring words that would bring all Americans together as they worry about the possibility of another war in the Middle East, President Trump stepped to the podium Wednesday morning and instead gave a brief speech that was vintage Trump: lacking in even the barest eloquence, replete with lies, delivered with garbled pronunciation and weirdly somnolent affect, and unintentionally revealing.

• Trump’s Iran policy has been a catastrophic failure.
• Trump desperately wanted to find a way to declare victory and back off.
• Trump is still obsessed with Barack Obama.
• Trump is comically insecure about his manhood.
• Trump still has no idea what he wants to accomplish with regard to Iran or how to do it.

Some fallout - so, Cynical Mike says that maybe Iran isn't in a big hurry to retaliate in kind partly because 45*'s dumbfuck move serves the purpose of "unity" and "rally 'round the Ayatollah", which makes the social oppression a little easier because it pushes down on certain protests - most notably (as usual) the movement to free middle eastern women from the repressive bullshit imposed on them by religious control freaks.

I'm thinking we'll prob'ly see less of this in Iran - young women resisting the forced hijab.

We Have The Best Toys

So, if someone magically appeared before me - having materialized from the 1950s or something - I'd have to explain to them that I have a device in my pocket which allows me access to nearly the sum total of humankind's knowledge, and what I use it for is to watch cat videos and get into heated arguments with strangers.

Today's Hair-On-Fire Moment

It's been going around for a while now. And as always, it's a good idea to take it all with a grain of salt.

That said, one of the main goals of the Daddy State is to get us thinking there's nothing that can be trusted to be truly true and really real.

A little critical thinking is in order at all times.

And remembering the basic techniques is a good place to start - as well as this relatively new shit coming from Cult45.

It's not about persuasion - it's about power.

I tell an obvious lie.

While you're engaging it...

...I'm off to my next lie.

And the power thing - that can explain a lot about why the rubes stay with 45* no matter what. He has the power, and they get to feel powerful by proxy - without having to invest time or effort at gaining or applying any actual knowledge.

Today's Quote

The woman who doesn't require validation from anyone is the most feared individual on the planet.

-- Mohadesa Najumi

Storm Warning

WaPo, Paul Waldman:

Many Americans are terrified of what would happen if Donald Trump won a second term in office. But perhaps we should be nearly as scared of what will happen if he loses in November.

More specifically, a victory by Democrats at the federal and state level could produce a backlash in which Trump’s fervent supporters, not to mention those on the far-right fringe, conclude that the ordinary avenues to political influence are hopelessly corrupted and therefore other, more radical means must be employed.

We may be getting a small window into how things could devolve in that direction in Virginia, a perfect place to witness how frustration at the loss of power can manifest itself in disturbing and even dangerous ways.

- and -

The Oath Keepers are just one of a number of far-right extremist groups taking an interest in Virginia’s gun laws and this protest in particular, so much so that traditional gun-rights groups like the National Rifle Association seem to be growing unsettled about the image being presented by a bunch of camo-wearing cosplay warriors toting AR-15s around the capitol grounds.

For now, those extremists are only trying to intimidate people with the threat of murderous violence, not actually engaging in it (and yes, when you show up at a protest with your AR, you are most definitely threatening violence). But what will happen if 2020 sees Trump turned out of office and Democrats gain more victories on the state level?

There will certainly be a conservative backlash, a new tea party of people angered by the failure of the political system to produce the results they favor. But it will be different this time, because the president has spent years telling them that any outcome they don’t like — in particular, any victory by Democrats — is itself proof that the system is corrupt, perhaps irredeemably so.

I'm a boomer, and I have to acknowledge that I helped get us into this mess.

So if the time comes and it's all on the line, I'll have to stand up and say, "Fuck you guys - here I am - shoot me."

Hoping I have the guts to pull it off.

Oh It's On, Bitch

hat tip = Driftglass, Professional Left Podcast

I think it's prob'ly a real thing, which makes it really hard for me to unravel the circularity of parody and self-parody and the un-self-awareness of it all.

Empty podia for the Dems.

And the GOP queen? Why, it's Mike Pence, of course.

Today's Pix

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