Multiplicities In Paradise

  H istory repeats itself, often in a strikingly similar way. Democracy lasted 250 years in ancient Athens until privilege, corruption and mismanagement strangled it.  American democracy, is now approaching 250 years, and it is desperately ill. D emocracy is under assault. We may think that these clashes are an aberration, a Mar-A-Lago Mussolini thing. But they are actually part of a troubling dichotomy that seems to be intrinsic to democracy itself.  D emocracy is more than a bundle of laws, norms and institutions. It is an open culture of communication.  Democracy affords people the right to think, speak and act and it allows every possible means of persuasion. Going all the way back to Plato's Republic, it's understood that the seeds of democracy include the roadmap to destruction in it's very DNA.  It's understood that every democratic society  is inescapably vulnerable to the consequences of communication. We may not like it, but something li...

  Each year brings its own unique set of triumphs and defeats, hardships, and joys. What can we say about 2021? It was not quite as unspeakably abominable as 2020. While that's not exactly splendid,  (It’s like saying that dog feces are marginally nicer to have in your living room than Hitler. It's not much, but it is something) What was better about 2021? We emerged from pandemic cocoons and started connecting with others. (Granted, the vast majority of these connections were attempts at identity theft or pitches for extended warranties.)  Sony announced a new console during the pandemic...the Plaguestation 5. We did learn things during 2021. It is possible to have substantial parts of the workforce working remotely. Before Covid, this was generally unthinkable.  (Though it's best to avoid telling a joke on ZOOM...it's not remotely funny.) Supporting local businesses and services close to home is prudent. (We should have known this before Covid but appare...

  3 0 years ago Francis Fukuyama penned his famous "The End of History?" thesis. Fukuyama’s assessment of the unravelling of the Cold War and the triumph of Western Liberal Democracy and the free market economic system was all the rage at the time.  It was easy to reduce the failure of the Soviet state-led political and economic model to being inferior to the more robust and free-flowing ideology of individual civil liberties and, of course, a minimalist state that enabled the invisible hand of the market. 1989 represented what Fukuyama described as the “End of History”. T he storming of the United States’ Capitol Hill buildings on 6 January 2021 by pro-Trump supporters could come straight out of a Hollywood-style action movie script. Predictable after four years of a presidency that can only be described as pop culture's ultimate reality TV climaxing in the Seizure of the Legislature. Had this taken place in any other country, the US may have sought to intervene, to up...

W hen the president of the United States encourages armed insurgents to breach the Capitol and threaten the physical safety of Congress, in order to remain in power, this is an attempted coup. There is no doubt whatsoever about that.  Trump must be impeached, convicted and removed from office – immediately. To let the clock run out on his presidency and allow Trump to seek the office again and receive the benefits and protections of a former president  would signal loudly that attempted coups are part of the American system. That we are NOT a nation of laws. If Senate Republicans can install a new supreme court justice in eight days, Trump can be removed from office within 12. He should then be arrested and tried for inciting violence and sedition – along with Donald Trump Jr and Rudy “trial-by-combat” Giuliani.   T hose who attacked the Capitol must also be prosecuted. The first amendment is not a right to try to violently physically overthrow the US government. Trump...

Dear decent people, First let me explain a few things to you. The Republican Party, whatever it stood for in the past, no longer stands for that. Nor anything else for that matter. We stand only for our own personal accumulation of power and wealth, and that's it. Stop trying to appeal to our ethics. We have none. Stop trying to appeal to our humanity. We have none. The Republican party is also known affectionately as the  God  &  Oil  Party (GOP). It is a division of  Halliburton  and a subsidiary of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Today's GOP is the largest misanthropic organization in the world. We may cite Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt as proof we are not assholes when we want your vote, but remember, Roosevelt left the party and took all the decent people with him. As for Lincoln, he was no states rights champion, and we'd drum him the hell out if he were alive today! (that damned atheist bleeding heart progressive opposed slav...

The problem with our illegitimate president is not that he is imbecilic and inept—it is that he has surrendered total power to the oligarchs. They get what they want. They do what they want. Although the president is a one-man wrecking crew aimed at democracy and institutions, and he has turned the United States into a laughingstock around the globe, our national crisis is embodied not in Trump but the corporate state’s now unfettered pillage. Trump, who has no inclination or ability to govern, has handed the machinery of government over to the bankers, corporate executives, right-wing think tanks, CEOs and generals. They are  eradicating the few regulations  and laws that inhibited a naked kleptocracy. They are dynamiting the institutions,  including the State Department , that served interests other than corporate profit and are stacking the courts with far right-wing, corporate-controlled ideologues. Trump provides the daily entertainment; the elites handle the bu...

Washington, D.C., USA -- United States President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Dredd to be seated on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). The surprise pick of Dredd is said to be Trump's idea as he likes a lawyer who isn't afraid to waste people while working. "Judge Dredd ticks all the right boxes," said Trump. "He is strong on Law and Order and won't be sitting all day in a court room, but going out there and dispensing American Justice via the 2nd amendment...that's the fuckin'   American Way . Dredd is my type of lawman". Dredd has been a popular judge since he first appeared on the legal circuit 40 years ago. He is a lifelong Conservative and strong believer in the Second Amendment . Supporters of Dredd say he will save a 'ton of money' by dispensing justice with on-the-spot-fines and executions. Opponents of Dredd say he is a bad communicator and speaks only in grunts. He was also responsible fo...

T here likely is an American dream, some sort of aspiration hidden in an old coffee can buried somewhere beneath the grave of Thomas Paine.  But there is also an American nightmare, an empty, cold, heartless, mundane banality sucking the life force from all it encounters. America is not without virtue mind you, but its people have been, and remain dangerously hypnotized. L ong before Trumpism,  and it's associated demise of decency, honesty, and intelligence in public matters turned us into a nation of cretins and morons; the decline of the empire was well under way. A fair warning dear reader, most people who write about the dystopian nature of a society will try in the end, to offer some hope of redemption. This is not what you'll find here. If you're looking for a "feel good" uplifting piece that offers some pie in the sky remedy with a happy ending, you'll not find that here. I can not honestly be optimistic in this regard. There's a f...