#1750

Exploring the intersections of art and sexuality sounds–on paper–like a worthwhile undertaking; however, there’s an awful lot of privilege facilitating this project, e.g. a working computer, internet access, food, clothing and shelter–as well as gainful employment which allows me to pay my bills (more or less) and also allows enough scheduling flexibility that I am able to arrange my week in such a fashion where I can treat this blog as if it were a second part-time job.

The advantages that allow this work to be are not lost on me. And that’s why every fiftieth post I make a point to contextualize the relative frivolity of what I do here in the context of the desert of the real.

For this installment, I don’t even really know where to start. If you were at all familiar with Occupy Wall Street, you probably saw that kid with the SHIT IS FUCKED UP AND BULLSHIT sign. (Spoiler alert: that kid was and probably remains a colossal fucking asshat.)

I guess let’s start macro and head in the direction of micro.

Geopolitical Shit Show–

There seems to be tentative positive movements in the on-going morass of tension between North Korea.

The reality of this situation has little–if fuck all–to do with Dump’s ‘diplomacy: N. Korea’s subterranean nuclear test facility collapsed after the last detonation conducted there in September of 2017. At the time conservative estimates maintained that it would take 18 months minimum before any further testing could resume. A new report claims that the extent of the damage is far more extensive than originally suspected. 

As with anything else, facts and context mattered little to U.S. Republicans in the House of Representatives, who–looking for a desperately needed hash in the win column for their embattled commander and chief nominated Dump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

This is grossly ironic on something not unlike a quantum level. From Dump’s comments about Mexicans, his continued insistence that white supremacists and neo-Nazis include some ‘good people’ to a seemingly endless litany of concrete ways his rule has made the world a much more uncertain and less safe place, the fact that less than a week after this nomination, Dump announced that the U.S. will pull out of the Iran deal.

It’s literally impossible to sum up the complexities of this situation as well as why this decision will have lasting and vast consequences for the world in any format short of an extensively footnoted thesis. Last Week Tonight put together a none too shabby survey of the history of the situation that is actually worth the 21 minute run time.

Additional points that need greater attention than they are getting presently are as follows: Remember back in 2017 when reporting on Russian election meddling was heating up and Dump met with Russian officials in the White House? At the time: it was reported that Dump shared sensitive intelligence with these officials. Kevin Drum over at Mother Jones–whose politics infuriate me, but who does have a tendency of low key scooping inside information–was informed by a reader (who it must be noted shows no signs of being credible source) claiming that it was actually much worse than reported. According to the letter writer Dump gave up Israeli intelligence involving a listening device that was installed at great risk in a Daesh safehouse in Syria, this device was silenced within hours of this breach.

Which is not to champion Israeli intelligence, remember that Netanyahu (remember that this is the man that Israeli police have recommended be arrested in connection with corruption charges), asserted that Iran is cheating on the deal. These claims were justifiable treated with skepticism in western media. It doesn’t matter so much whether they are true or not; or whether they influenced Dump’s decision because the reality of the situation is that no sooner did the U.S. jettison the Iran Deal than Israel allege that Iran fired missiles at them and retaliated.

Point is that the U.S. is signalling war with Iran. So buckle up for some bullshit, folks.

Oh, did you catch Dump’s suggestion about closing the U.S. borders? It was presented in the context of immigration–but that’s a boldly disconcerting way to phrase things.

I’m going to completely skip over the ongoing Dump corruption-Russian election meddling clusterfuck. The one thing that I am noticing is that conservative media is burying anything to do with Michael Cohen and is reporting on the Mueller probe as a ‘witch hunt’ and/or a deep state coup attempt. This is deeply disturbing.

As more mainstream, fact based media is edging towards referring to this as the ‘constitutional crisis’ this administration represents, I have to point out that although ‘constitutional crisis’ is the correct term–given where things are with the ongoing debate on gun violence in this country, there are those on the right who are going to term ‘constitutional crisis’ as they are going to take away all my guns.

If I hadn’t outgrown conspiracy theories, I’d be reasonably convinced that Russia is actually using the way things played out in Syria as a template to foment multi-faction civil war in the U.S. But I have noticed a splintering of the usual left-right dichotomy in this country. It’s my feeling that the old notion of socially progressive/economically liberal vs classically conservative is being scrambled. It feels as if increasingly the spectrum revolves around an emphasis on First Amendment (1A) vs Second Amendment (2A) freedoms. I’m noting a lot of folks who are pro-choice and LGBTQ allies adopting the modality of there’s no 1A without 2A. I am unsettled by this shift.

Personally, I loathe guns. And despite some of the utterly garbage aspects of the U.S. constitution (i.e. the 3/5ths compromise, women not being able to vote, prohibition, etc.), I’m inclined to think that it’s really not the best idea to go mucking around there. However, originalist interpretations of the constitution are increasingly cropping up do the the rapid advancement of technology in combination with culture lag. The meme about muskets vs assault rifles is valid. (And the people who argue on the terms of a well-regulated militia as a defense against tyranny are full of shit unless they are also actively trying to be able to purchase and own tanks and predator drones… those folks are out there but that they aren’t exactly mainstream shows that there are places that are too batshit for even the NRA to go). I’m of a mind that until purchasing a gun requires licensing on par with obtaining/maintaining a CDL, then I think our gun control laws are entirely too lax. An addenda to that is the caveat that I also really want some additional research on how procuring a personal arsenal seems to be something disproportionately pursued by bigoted white supremacists. And ultimately that’s how I see this issue as a an effort to make the sword mightier than the pen.

On a slightly different subject: this recent video featuring Reza Aslan discussing the reality that most white Evangelicals support Dump and how that squares with their alleged beliefs is must see TV.

Also, speaking of Xtians: there’s been a spate of anti-abortion legislation that I can’t even begin to summarize. We are very much headed in the direction of The Handmaid’s Tale. (I’m not the only one who thinks so. Consider Michelle Wolf’s White House Corresponent’s Dinner set where she compared Sarah Huckabee Sanders to Aunt Lydia. Additionally: the fact that there was any sort of backlash to Wolf’s performance is galling. That it was so widespread is utterly terrifying and speaks to exactly how bad things have gotten quickly.)

Oh and did you here about the white girl who called the Yale police on another black grad student napping in a dorm common area? Or how about Rakem Balogun, who has spent 5 months in jail held without bail or trail under the FBI’s new efforts to make Black Identity Extremism a thing?

Lastly, consider the Republican Governor of Missouri Eric Grietens’ response to being accused of non-consensual rough sex (”FAKE NEWS!!”) vs Eric Schneiderman’s resignation (after which he claimed that the activities were consensual–but that doesn’t seem to be hold up to any sort of scrutiny; also, I’m really disturbed about how this is being reported with regards to context with regard to the nature of negotiation and consent in BDSM scenes).