Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted
7 hours ago, B00M said:

Tell them details they’re unaware of.

Lol. Good luck with that. If they didn’t hear it on a Fox News prime time opinion show, it never happened. 

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Rage+1 1
Posted
15 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/drew-magary-feel-dumb-being-american-20255797.php

 

I feel dumb for being an American
 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

That is, I try not to think about it all the time. I thought about it all the time back at the end of the 2010s, and it made me angry. Violently angry. That anger did me no good. It helped the bad guys more than it ever helped me, so this time around, I’m much more fastidious about my information load management. I focus on my salad. I don’t follow any political accounts on social media, and I’ve muted any friends of mine there who regularly air their political grievances. I want to stay informed, but on my terms.

Both of my sons are now off to school, and my wife has left for work, leaving just me and the dog. It’s as good a time as any to rip off the Band-Aid. I open the Washington Post’s front page on my phone. I know that this newspaper has been hopelessly compromised, but so have the rest of them. The majority of the news media is coalescing into a single propaganda arm now. But I know that, which means that I know how to maneuver around it. I can skim these front pages and articles for useful information while ignoring the dreck. I can also track down bits of good news and then bail on the article before the inevitable “but some are saying” follow-up. So I skim, I absorb, I close the tab, and then I think. Then I let the back of my consciousness process those thoughts while I try to go about my day as if it were any other.

I go to work in my office all morning. Then I break for lunch and a workout, and then I shower and then take a nap with the dog. It’s a good day in my world so far.

But America still manages to pierce my shield. The news comes in dribs and drabs, giving me more to process. They’re grabbing kids off the streets, redacting entire chapters of the nation’s history, firing all of the good scientists, and rifling through the passport database to hunt down those they consider to be foreigners. My wife is afraid to travel now because, despite being a U.S. citizen, she wasn’t born here. She isn’t sure they’ll let her back in here if she leaves. I also wasn’t born in the U.S., so maybe that means that I can’t go anywhere either. My wife has also heard a rumor going around that the goon squad’s next act will be sniffing around the passport database to find out which U.S. citizens have listed a new gender for themselves upon reissue or put an X in that space. What will they do to these people? Who’s next after that?

I don’t know, so I spend the afternoon banging out a post about the NFL. I don’t bother to write a post about greater America, because then I’d have to think about greater America, which would give me hives. Sometimes I open the release valve just so I have somewhere to put the aggravation, even if it doesn’t stay there. Most of the time though, I try to keep the valve shut. Perhaps you’ve tried to distract yourself in a similar fashion.

But distractions are only so effective against the gathering storm. I live in a country that lived fast and is now dying young. A strongman has taken things over and used the good will of both America’s citizenry and of its public officials to rob it blind. He can get away with it all too, because he already has, and because my fellow Americans hired him to do it again. And no one in power is fighting back because, in my lifetime, no one has ever wanted to lose Republican customers. Not even Democrats.

This is the end result, and it has a nasty logic to it. It only looks like Republicans don’t know why they’re dismantling useful, heretofore apolitical public services. But they know why. They know that this will make millions of people sick and kill millions more. They know this will make America both poorer and dumber. Those are the end goals here, because a destitute country is one that’s easier for them to rule. Ask Vladimir Putin. Ask Kim Jong Un. Ask Pol Pot. The more a dictator can expand the wealth gap inside the walls of their kingdom, the more comfortable they feel.

And comfort is the true dictator here. Like every other American, I have been trained to both expect and demand comfort at all times. Comfortable housing. Comfortable cars. Comfortable businesswear. If I’m ever uncomfortable, then something must be amiss. That’s an awfully spoiled way to live. From Bill Bryson:

“It really is extraordinary how long it took people to achieve even the most elemental levels of comfort. There was one good reason for it: life was tough. Throughout the Middle Ages, a good deal of every life was devoted simply to surviving.”

Americans need not worry about survival anymore, and so they occupy themselves with pettier matters, like a momentary lapse of comfort. To be uncomfortable feels wrong to the average American, and virtually all of our inner conflict stems from an endless disagreement over our respective sources of that discomfort. Some Americans find racism uncomfortable, as they should, while some Americans find confronting racism to be a personal affront. They’d rather not think about racism, so they don’t — or they simply pretend there is no racism at all. And if you ask them to think about racism, they swear vengeance. You are the woke, and you must pay. In a country where everyone abhors being inconvenienced, it was only a matter of time before the worst of us decided that our greatest inconvenience was one another.

I try not to let that thought overtake me, because the stress will kill me before the goon squad does.

Later, my daughter texts me from a protest on her college campus. I ask her to send me a photo so I can see her fighting for justice. She texts back, “I don’t wanna make anyone uncomfy. We’re all disguised and wearing masks and stuff, just in case.” I understand. I’m proud of her. I also hope that her masked face isn’t being scanned right now by a distant satellite and then logged into Trump’s janky-ass “Enemies” folder. I try not to think too hard about that last part, because I’d rather be proud than afraid. If I can’t be proud of my country, I can be proud of my family. That’s how I’ll survive this, I tell myself, however long it lasts.

What I try not to tell myself is that this could last for a long time. An excruciatingly long time. And what happens as more and more of American society falls apart? Will my family die if we don’t flee? When will we know it’s time to? When will we know if the water we’re in has started to boil? Will we still be in the pot? Will you?

I try not to dwell on it, because it makes me feel uncomfortable. More important, it makes me feel DUMB. I’d tell you I feel ashamed to be an American right now, but that turn of phrase has grown hackneyed. I just feel f—king stupid. Embarrassed. STAINED. Why do I live here? Do I REALLY owe this country anything? What if I defect to another country? Would I be a coward for that? Would it be worth the moral abdication? Is it a moral abdication at all? Everyone else who’s left America by choice doesn’t seem too pained by their decision. And I get it: Who would want to live in this spiritual vacuum of a place?

I try to think about why I AM still here. The answers come faster than you’d think. Everyone I love either lives in America or is American. All of them. I love these fine Americans to death and want to take care of them. I also love my house. I love my adopted home state of Maryland, which is one of the very few whose representatives actually seem to get it. I love my work-wife state of California, even if Gavin Newsom is a scumbag of the highest order. I love the food in America, I love the music, and I love the scenery. So it’s not just mere convenience keeping me an American, nor is it loyalty to the flag. It’s love, and all of the grief that love entails. I don’t know when America will be gone — it feels like awfully soon — but I try not to work myself up about that part of it. After all, just because this place can’t keep its s—t together doesn’t mean that I can’t.

The day is over, and everyone is home. I have done my processing and have earned the right to chill. I’ve got a gummy working its way through my system, a fresh near beer sitting on my armrest and my dog in my lap. Sometimes I think about keeping a happiness journal, where I could sit down at night and make a tally of everything that made me happy that day, large or small. I haven’t started it, though, because I already know what makes me happy, and I already know where to find it. It’s all here, right where my day started. Against all odds, that’s a comforting thought.

It’s also a fleeting one. I turn on some basketball, and every other ad is one for Trump. I try not to think about it.

 

Drew Magary is one of the best writers in America and he was cool to meet after he and David Roth did their podcast together. I knew that was him before I even looked at the link. I have mentioned it several times, but anyone who wants to get great news on politics, sports, the environment, nature or really anything they want to write about needs to get a subscription to Defector.com. David Roth's political articles alone are worth paying for. I met him in New York at a Defector birthday celebration in 2023 and he's a really, really smart guy. I will try to link some of his articles here.

  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Like 2
Posted
8 hours ago, ChiTownDoc said:

See those names?  Maybe one white guy among that crew… he wasn’t gonna attend no matter what.  POS

Remember when (maybe) Joe Biden looked at the time at Dover AFB? 

  • Rage+1 1
Posted
47 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

Imagine being an Air Force general and NSA director and getting fired on the say so of fucking Laura Loomer. The left wing equivalent of Laura Loomer doesn't exist as a public figure, much less would that person ever have any influence over staffing of the highest ranks of the fucking US military. 

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 2
  • Rage+1 4
Posted
1 hour ago, Bojack said:

Imagine being an Air Force general and NSA director and getting fired on the say so of fucking Laura Loomer. The left wing equivalent of Laura Loomer doesn't exist as a public figure, much less would that person ever have any influence over staffing of the highest ranks of the fucking US military. 

I imagine Loomer would do things that the experienced general will not. Game, set. Match.

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
Posted
18 hours ago, Red Five said:

I have to see Trumpy family this weekend. Trumpy family, with zero ability to keep their thoughts on this stuff to themselves. 

I briefly considered stepping in front of a bus so I wouldn't have to do it. 

Push them in front of a bus instead.

Posted
1 hour ago, Firemans4Horn said:

No one in his entire family line has ever served. “Suckers and losers” he called them. 
 

 

Sucks for the ones who voted for Kamala. Fuck all the rest of ‘em. 

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted

I have entirely stopped communicating with the trump supporters in my family.  Fuck them.  I am the only one in my family who feels a responsibility to care for my 95-year-old mother, so I'm stuck here for now, but I certainly don't have to talk to dipshits.

  • Hook 'Em 4
  • Like 4
Posted

I went to an MLB game the other day and they played the national anthem. My first time hearing it live since the election. I realized I didn’t care. Actually, that’s untrue. I realized I was angry about what is happening and sad about what used to be. About this ridiculous ritual of honoring a country that is currently tearing itself apart.

It’s like having a happy marriage and then your spouse starts doing meth and cheating on you and gambling away your life’s savings in a shitty Oklahoma casino. Then your anniversary rolls around and you just think “Why, why, for the love of God, why??? We had everything and you blew it apart.” And now you want me to watch the wedding video and pretend that it still means something?

Colin Kaepernick was ahead of his time but he was absolutely right.

I’m not sure what to think about July 4 this year. Maybe I’ll plan a trip to Montreal and drink French wine. Maybe Americans won’t be allowed to visit Montreal by that time.

  • Hook 'Em 7
  • Like 1
Posted
4 minutes ago, wild_turkey said:

I went to an MLB game the other day and they played the national anthem. My first time hearing it live since the election. I realized I didn’t care. Actually, that’s untrue. I realized I was angry about what is happening and sad about what used to be. About this ridiculous ritual of honoring a country that is currently tearing itself apart.

It’s like having a happy marriage and then your spouse starts doing meth and cheating on you and gambling away your life’s savings in a shitty Oklahoma casino. Then your anniversary rolls around and you just think “Why, why, for the love of God, why???” We had everything and you blew it apart. And now you want me to watch the wedding video and pretend that it still means something?

Colin Kaepernick was ahead of his time but he was absolutely right.

I’m not sure what to think about July 4 this year. Maybe I’ll plan a trip to Montreal and drink French wine. Maybe Americans won’t be allowed to visit Montreal by that time.

I’m planning on either not standing or timing it so I’m not in the stands during the national anthem this coming season

  • Like 1
Posted
4 minutes ago, wild_turkey said:

I went to an MLB game the other day and they played the national anthem. My first time hearing it live since the election. I realized I didn’t care. Actually, that’s untrue. I realized I was angry about what is happening and sad about what used to be. About this ridiculous ritual of honoring a country that is currently tearing itself apart.

It’s like having a happy marriage and then your spouse starts doing meth and cheating on you and gambling away your life’s savings in a shitty Oklahoma casino. Then your anniversary rolls around and you just think “Why, why, for the love of God, why??? We had everything and you blew it apart.” And now you want me to watch the wedding video and pretend that it still means something?

Colin Kaepernick was ahead of his time but he was absolutely right.

I’m not sure what to think about July 4 this year. Maybe I’ll plan a trip to Montreal and drink French wine. Maybe Americans won’t be allowed to visit Montreal by that time.

The next sporting event I attend, I'll just go slam a beer during the NA.  I have no pride left.  Hell, I'm totally embarrassed to be an American. 

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 2
Posted
5 minutes ago, wild_turkey said:

I went to an MLB game the other day and they played the national anthem. My first time hearing it live since the election. I realized I didn’t care.

Yeah, we had the pledge of allegiance at our annual investors conference at work last month and it was certainly a "fuck this" moment. To be fair though, I hated the pledge as anti-American before this year. It was an extra level of "fuck this" now.

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 1
Posted
5 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

Yeah, we had the pledge of allegiance at our annual investors conference at work last month and it was certainly a "fuck this" moment. To be fair though, I hated the pledge as anti-American before this year. It was an extra level of "fuck this" now.

OAN?

  • Haha 1
Posted
13 hours ago, Hookah Horns said:

I can't stop ruminating on how much different the world would be if that Crooks kid's bullet was a few more inches on target. 

My 14-year-old has shared different versions of this sentiment (you can guess which version) and I advised her not to voice it at all in case she slips up and repeats it somewhere she really shouldn’t. Lately I’ve stopped even pretending to care. We all get it. 

  • Hook 'Em 3
Posted
15 hours ago, SubliminalHorn said:

We’re experiencing grief. We’re grieving the loss of our country and who we thought we were. We’re America! USA USA USA! Back to Back World War Champs!

Yadda yadda yadda. We don’t know a world or life without America being the preeminent nation. We strutted around peacocking because we’re #1! Nevermind the fact that I was never really sure what we were #1 at. 
 

But it’s over. All of it. I’m angry and sad. I’ll never forgive those who supported this

Yeah. I had plenty of cope in 2016 but I am all out of cope. 

Posted

So, the past 70 days or so reminded me of the phone call I got in November of 2016 from @Macanudo, asking me "seriously, do you really think this is that bad?  How bad could it be?"  And....I told him how bad I actually thought it was (I was wrong, though....it was and is even worse than that).  Remember that conversation, Mac?  I do.  Seriously, I remember where I was standing when we had it. 

Posted
Just now, Firemans4Horn said:

#winning

 

 

Sure.  We are going to functionally burn down the Library at Alexandria while we're at it.  If you think a purge of the Library of Congress getting rid of all materials that "do not align with the administration's priorities" isn't coming, you haven't been paying attention.

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Rage+1 1
Posted
28 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

So, the past 70 days or so reminded me of the phone call I got in November of 2016 from @Macanudo, asking me "seriously, do you really think this is that bad?  How bad could it be?"  And....I told him how bad I actually thought it was (I was wrong, though....it was and is even worse than that).  Remember that conversation, Mac?  I do.  Seriously, I remember where I was standing when we had it. 

Of course I remember.  You won't let me forget...

Signed,

Macanudo

Ledge T-Shirt Manager

 

  • Haha 6
Posted
1 minute ago, Macanudo said:

Of course I remember.  You won't let me forget...

Signed,

Macanudo

Ledge T-Shirt Manager

About that....I presume you are working with our, uhhh...."transportation broker" to ensure that we get our t-shirts from Bangladesh into the country and on the rack without paying the tariff because we get a "special exemption."  Capiche?

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
5 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

image.thumb.jpeg.e0fc0acd2c74d22140d4b92f8e42521e.jpeg

Watching the financial news shows is hilarious.  Only Fox is even trying at this point.  Everyone else is like ‘this is a terrible self inflicted wound, wtf is this idiot doing?’

 

Moarrr pain for the olds and his sycophants.  Let’s do this.  

  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Like 1
  • Fuck Around and Find Out 3
Posted

If Putin himself was in control of the presidency- can someone tell me something that would be different than what is happening right now?

How long will Congress permit this insanity?

  • Hook 'Em 6
  • Like 2
  • Rage+1 1
Posted
1 minute ago, Pig Bellmont said:

If Putin himself was in control of the presidency- can someone tell me something that would be different than what is happening right now?

How long will Congress permit this insanity?

We would have American troops fighting alongside the Norks.

LOL at the idea of a GOP Congress ever opposing trump

  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Like 2
Posted
4 minutes ago, Pig Bellmont said:

How long will Congress permit this insanity?

The people are going to have to get much rowdier for anything to happen there. 

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 2
  • Rage+1 1


×
×
  • Create New...