You Don’t Have to Settle
"The last decade has been the Democrats clinging onto the rulebook going "but a dog can't play basketball!" while a dog f*cking dunks on us over and over."
The norms of politics and governance in the United States are gone.
An Episcopal bishop asking for mercy in just about the meekest language possible has been used by the President to summon a raging mob bent on beating her into submission. * The Pentagon has closed down an office charged with suggesting ways at minimizing civilian casualties in battles. * The globalist enclave at Davos was ordered to raise military spending, lest the United States withdraw its support of NATO. * Common criminals (both Jan 6 rioters and extremist forced-birthers) have received pardons and many are seeking revenge against their perceived enemies.
A glance at media of just about any flavor at any given time, reveals more actions, each designed to further divide the country by stoking fear and/or outrage. * CNN newscaster Jim Acosta, who dared to ask tough questions, has been reassigned to the graveyard shift. * CBS anchor Nora O’Donnell is being replaced by a panel, de-emphasizing the kind of impact a Walter Cronkite-type personality might have. * A local TV weather forecaster was fired for comments on social media critical of Elon Musk’s gesture, which invoked memories of Nazi Germany.
And then, there’s the Democratic Party. Not all Democratic officials are taking a bended knee, but Senator John Fetterman choosing to anoint himself as the next Joe Manchin, has just about guaranteed that all the terrible choices for cabinet level positions in the Trump administration will be affirmed.
As an message on social from during the first Trump administration, said:
"The last decade has been the Democrats clinging onto the rulebook going "but a dog can't play basketball!" while a dog fucking dunks on us over and over."
It’s time people who still know the difference between right and wrong do more than wring their hands over every cruel and unusual action from the current administration, or, worse, agree to support a slightly amended decree putting lipstick on that pig.
***
I’m not one of those people who thinks we could use a new political party. Perhaps, as many of the nation’s founders feared, political parties are the source of our governance problems. That’s not the conversation we need to be having going into the 2026 elections, which needs to be about more than simply opposing the Trump administration.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who still carries the burden of MAGA smears, has used her speaking opportunities to deliver truths underlying many of the authoritarian schemes currently in play.
"I want folks at home to look at what members of Congress are invested in private prisons companies, and look at the votes on this bill. It is atrocious that people are lining their pockets with private prison profits in the name of a horrific tragedy."
Are the immigration raids (detaining both citizens and non-citizens) all about making the nation safer, or are they a vehicle for enriching those invested in incarceration?
The MAGA leadership in Congress has decided to rub salt in the wounds made worse via the amnesty for January 6 rioters, by launching an investigation of the earlier January 6 inquiry. However, the star witness of that earlier inquiry, Cassidy Hutchinson, won’t be subpoenaed because she could expose foul sexual threats texted by GOP members following her testimony. How much evidence do we need that they’re all hypocrites/perverts?
How does anybody respond to this sort of bullshit?
Democrats need to stop saying “I told you so,” and start saying “people are hurting because of this man. We need to help. And here’s how we could keep this injury from happening again.
In addition to doing whatever makes sense to help victims– activists at all levels need to advocate for new rules of the road… Everywhere, every time, and at all levels. And in case you haven’t noticed, large numbers of voters are put off by what’s being offered at the ballot box.
We can start by flipping the script. (And being honest about it.) And, never, repeat never, taking the “what about?” bait used by quislings (look it up). Stop the discussion right there if this comes up, because they’ve just proved they don’t care. Seeing it on the boob tube? Time for a bathroom break.
Always putting the foundational issues upfront: everywhere, every time, and at every level is a salve for this rhetorical trickery. If the bs needs to be brought up, do it in passing at the end of any response.
Shying away from discussions of law enforcement overreach (defund the police? Don’t mention their fake framing!) won’t help with the fact that authoritarian rule is based on the premise that some people are better than others.
Ultimately, the people wearing badges will get screwed later on in the game of oligarchy, as their jobs are privatized and pensions are discarded. I don’t think many people with badges and guns get that yet, and it’s probably not worth arguing about now. (Ask the kid making minimum wage as a rent-a-cop at Walmart how superior he’s feeling…)
Backing the Blue also apparently stops when the true believer starts beating up cops. This isn’t just a problem in DC. San Diego County paid how many millions of dollars to victims of its law enforcement practices? Framing these examples as being supportive of law enforcement (there are only a few rotten apples, e.g.) generally amounts to looking through the wrong end of the looking glass.
If elected officials support these practices because they fear political blackmail, let’s propose a new standard for oversight. Locally (County Supes) that would be the budget, or (City of San Diego) an ongoing audit.
MAGA doesn’t support rule of law or any other norm they throw up to deflect. They support a lawless society, where the more money you have, the bigger crimes you can commit.
As the gap between the ultra-wealthy and median income earners widens, maybe it’s time to focus on how wealth at the top is acquired through cheating (because they think they're smarter than the rest of us). Virtually nothing the entities mining the masses for money does other than acquiring more, more, more.
A good place to start these moral discussions concerns the two biggest cash vacuums out there: crypto and artificial intelligence. The Trump administration has already moved to remove any inconvenient barriers in these fields because they’re in on the scam.
Side note: I think both crypto and AI can be useful. But the reason they can be useful lies in advancing the greater good, not personal attainment for a few people who believe at their core that they are better or more entitled than the rest of us. I’m not clear on how we get there, but having better aspirations will be helpful.
In politics, wealth needs to be treated as a disability, not in the ‘DEI’ sense that MAGAts fantasize about, but in the area of recognition that there is something unusual about individuals requiring forethought. And it’s not that their shit doesn't stink.
Note: Personally, I think it’s nice when people allow me to contribute to conversations on my white board rather than rushing on to another topic. (I am unable to speak.)
Rich people worthy of redemption should be funding the victims of the economic system, not financing societal destruction. The meme-coin scam being undertaken by Donald Trump and his wife is so egregious that even other con-artists are denouncing it.
When it comes to elected officials, their attitude and behaviors connected to money should be a source of inquiry before any group endorses them. At this point, I’m favoring an upper age limit for all three branches of government, a vigorously enforced prohibition on abuse of power, and a commitment to open and honest campaign funding.
So, think about it. Isn’t a cure for what ails us, and the basis for campaigns a serious commitment to higher standards?
Reasonable, which is the phrase used by establishment apologists when cornered, to me means something is possible in the real world, not some halfway/half assed language. Reasonable means the person asking for something has the ability to contribute to making a demand happen. “Fuck the Democrats and the Republicans” isn’t a reasonable call for action.
Publicly asking Rep. Juan Vargas (random example) if he supports upper age limits for Federal government officials is reasonable. Maybe it’s not a deal breaker, but giving the topic visibility is a worthy exercise.
This is What Happens When Your President Tries to “Make Argentina Great Again” via Antarctic Sapiens blog.
For the new administration, climate change is a “socialist lie” to be understood as a natural, cyclical phenomenon with little to do with industrialization or human activity. The government is now evaluating research projects through an ideological lens, hunting for signs of “communism” or other so-called deviations. Projects that fail to align with the administration’s agenda are axed. And so, in the corridors of the former environment ministry — now downgraded to an under-secretariat — climate change has become taboo. For real. Since July 2024, the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) workers have been instructed not to talk about “climate change,” “sustainability,” “agroecology,” “gender,” “biodiversity,” or “carbon footprint.”
The echoes of Trump’s MAGA movement reverberate loudly here, shaping a dangerous playbook that is far more than ideological — it is existential. Because the consequences aren’t confined to academia.
***
How Amtrak Happened by Hayden Clarkin at The Transit Guy
It’s 1969, and the once-bustling halls of Kansas City’s magnificent Union Station now stand eerily quiet. Just a few decades earlier, the station served over 200 trains daily; now, it struggles to see even eighteen.1 Penn Central, the newly formed company merging the Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads, was the largest eastern passenger rail operator—but it is already in dire financial straits, soon to file what would become the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. The golden age of passenger rail lies in ruins, eclipsed by the rapid rise of air travel, widespread car ownership, and the relentless march of suburban sprawl.
Only 500 passenger trains remain in operation across the United States—just 50% of the number from the previous decade and a mere 2.5% of the service seen in earlier decades. The private passenger rail market, once thriving, has been in steep decline since World War II, now suffering a staggering $200 million annual loss (equivalent to $1.77 billion in 2025). USPS mail, once transported on 10,000 trains daily and provided a critical revenue stream that kept passenger rail afloat, had also become virtually nonexistent.2 Without intervention, the country’s once-proud passenger rail system was at risk of “disappearing completely.”
Yet, amid this grim outlook, one corridor offered a glimmer of hope.
***
Japan’s loneliness epidemic is so bad that elderly women are committing crimes to find friends and health care in prison by Ani Freedman at Fortune
Japan’s largest women’s prison has become home to a growing number of seniors. CNN reported the number of prisoners aged 65 or older nearly quadrupled from 2003 to 2022. Feeling neglected financially and socially, in the wake of a global loneliness epidemic, many older Japanese women are turning to imprisonment to find community and support.
Akiyo, identified by pseudonym for privacy, is an 81-year-old inmate who was serving time for shoplifting food. “There are very good people in this prison,” Akiyo told CNN. “Perhaps this life is the most stable for me.”
The companionship offered by prison is the main appeal for these elderly women, along with regular meals, free healthcare and eldercare. And the requirement to work in the prison factories is no deterrent.
