Asked Google-AI “What are the first 100 prime numbers, in binary notation.” This was the reply:
The Threat is Real. But it isn’t TECHNICAL.
Meanwhile, They’re basically disbanded the CDC. To the point where the rank & file (recently shot at, mind you) have staged an old school walkout. in protest.
“What if they staged a Culling, and nobody seemed to be all that upset at the idea of being Culled…?”
The Threat is Real. But it isn’t (necessarily) TECHNICAL.
Today’s ongoing fun times: Trump intends to end birthright citizenship. Media neglects to inform the public that the text is, especially by USC standards, pretty fucking clear:
All people born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and the state they reside in.…
No way they can get enough States on board to overthrow this (or any) amendment, and given all the other protections in there (e.g. Due Process), it would be unpopular even if they could. Even the damned Jesuits are against a repeal, FFS.
Yet again, part of me is morbidly curious as to how one crafts a “legal workaround” for such a plain, simple, English statement that a five year old would understand & accept. An executive that refuses to execute (by refusing to issue Social Security cards, Passports, etc) wouldn’t be new (ask Andrew Jackson about that one), but it would be new for modern times. And it kind of obviates that whole “Three Branches of Government’ thing.
Honestly, though, if they can turn that into a game Legal Calvinball, then the entire USC isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. (And, by inference, USG becomes “culturally invalid”– won’t that be interesting?). Any legitimacy to existing authority? Gone. (And that includes SCOTUS). Protection of private property by the State? Gone. Solid contract law? Gone.
Without the current American State, you don’t get Billionaires. Billionaires are a thing that cannot exist, unprotected out in the wild, as recent events have shown. They either need to be head of a State (like Putin/Trump), or to command a vast fortune so the State will deem them worthy of protection.
Older societies had certain “mechanisms” in place to deal with Resource Hoarders (it often involved a rock to the back of the head). So the Billionaires’ eagerness to destroy the very complex structures that keep them awash in imaginary ‘Equity’ (the true source of their power) and their lives Guillotine-Free is… puzzling.
Imagine a school of highly exotic, useless fish in an aquarium, frantically trying to figure out the best way of drilling through the tank glass.
That’s how I see them. Problem is, we’re all stuck in the same tank, with them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Just a thought…¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yes, I believe that Pluto in Aquarius is going to be a Thing. (Whether that’s because astrology has genuine macro/historical properties, or because enough people believe in it that it unconsciously becomes true, or due to some weird truth-in-between is left as an exercise to the reader).
That said, Pluto leaves Cap (the sign of money, financial power, billionaires, etc) on Nov 19th, and since then we have:
…and those are just the highlights.
It’s going to be one bumpy ride all the way to 2044. Wonder if I’ll make it…?
No hot takes. Everybody does hot takes in this, the Age of the Feuilleton. Any of my ‘hot takes’ were made, casually, in real time, on Threads or Bsky. I’ll confess to about 18 hours of “huh…?” and hoping for audit data. Initial results weren’t consistent with reports of record numbers of new registrations and early voting. (Call it Numerical Intuition. If it had been an engineering task, I’d have checked my math, is all I’m saying).
But, no. Detailed exit polls told otherwise. It looks like it was a mix of (1) A general, global anti-incumbent trend; (2) Dems stayed home (fewer voters than Biden got in 2020) and (3) A seriously Mal-informed electorate. IMO Category (2) probably included quite a few higher-income Dems leery of tax increases who stayed home (or left that top line blank). Oh well.
That said, it was a very narrow victory, and if “he” hadn’t been in it, this would have been just another typical razor-close American election (not unlike 2004). Post-election polls tell us that very few T-voters seem to understand exactly what it was they elected. The 2025ers will, of course, start their “Crusade to Deconstruct the Administrative State”, but they sort of tried that already, back in 1981. USG still got BIGGER, over time. So… how far will they get before there’s serious pushback?
This numbness could just be trauma response, but at this point I am just morbidly curious how this will all play out. The USG was too clunky, multi-federated and inefficient (by design) to fall on Jan6th. (In most countries, you take over one building, and, Congratulations! You’re the government, now! America doesn’t really work that way). Even if there were a way to order it to efficiently deconstruct itself, what about all the other layers? Accounts will need to be settled. Stop work orders documented. “Why, Sir, the paperwork alone might take us three to seven years!”
They’ve spent 44 years making sure the USG was never powerful or strong enough to help its own citizens, or to even know who funds their candidates. And now, some think they can convert this into a full Theo-fascist State in the space of a couple of years? A National Government that didn’t seem very interested in defending itself from a known felon, much less the rest of us?
Good luck with that one, kids. Fascism is EXPENSIVE. (Just ask the old DDR about that one). “Why, Sir, the paperwork alone…!”
But… they’ll try. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
After 30 years of constant assault from the Right wing, they have finally gotten their wish. This election is basically a referendum on whether or not we get to keep this Republic, as currently constructed. And roughly half of the voters seem quite happy to buy what they are selling. In fact, the polls would have us believe DJT is leading– despite all the contrary evidence on the ground. (Early voting numbers, rally attendance, exit polls, etc all point to a Harris surprise– then the polls come out, and the Day’s Dooming begins).
So, either polls are flawed (or being willfully manipulated), or there’s a great big Silent Majority out there willing to scrap the Republic and go full-on KKK/Nazi. Not sure which of these two possibilities is the least discomforting.
On the upside, T-Bag basically had a Klan Rally in Madison Square Garden, so we’re allowed to speak the word “Nazi” and be taken seriously now, at least. For now.
I’ve thought before that a lot of these characters seem stunted, stuck in High School, so I think that Digby gets it right. To the Lesser Fascists is a case of “trying to turn all of America into one giant High School”.
Problem is, the Greater Fascists are surfing this movement towards total, absolute power (thanks to SCOTUS). And the Greater Fascists have PLANS.
…we were Fighting for the Real.
Time to fight back, kids…