Multiplicities In Paradise

  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...

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...