Warning: despite being highly educated, well-read, published, I also feel a need to use vulgar language. If you are offended by what the upper-class elite consider vulgar, stop here, and proceed no further. I was born in Jamaica, NY, minutes away from that piece of shit called Trump, the DIC (dealer-in-chief). So, read on if you have balls or something equivalent.
Every day with Trump and his scumbag Administration is a fucking nightmare. Pam Bondi as attorney general is a mockery of anything to do with justice. This is not a rape of Lady Liberty, this is Lady Liberty being beat to shit. This is blasphemy of anything remotely bordering on that which is right.
And many among me cannot discuss this. They prefer to ruminate about their fraternity songs from 63 fucking years ago, as if they were magically 17 years old again. Siblings, nephews and nieces are quiet about what has happened in the US.
I have two descriptions of what this Trump Nation is. The first is from Oliver K. as sent to me via an Instagram post:
“Behold. The festering carcass of American rot shoved into an ill-fitting suit: the sleaze of a conman, the cowardice of a draft dodger, the gluttony of a parasite, the racism of a Klansman, the sexism of a back-alley creep, the ignorance of a bar-stool drunk, and the greed of a hedge-fund ghoul-all spray-painted orange and paraded like a prize hog at a county fair. Not a president. Not even a man. Just the diseased distillation of everything this country swears it isn't but has always been-arrogance dressed up as exceptionalism, stupidity passed off as common sense, cruelty sold as toughness, greed exalted as ambition, and corruption worshiped like gospel. It is America's shadow made flesh, a rotting pumpkin idol proving that when a nation kneels before money, power, and spite, it doesn't just lose its soul-it shits out this bloated obscenity and calls it a leader.” Oliver Kornetzke, 9/3/25
Whew, that's a lot of venting. But I prefer more of a detailed report of what we are seeing, hearing and what we are immersed in.
- previously published as: I’m coming to your house to fuck you in the ass"
From the title, you may have guessed that we are living in Dystopian times, especially in the US. But let me say, in light of the societal upheavals, these years under the Trump reign of terror, have been of logarithmically dysphoric. Our very own fascist leader is a diabolic mixture of Russian narrative a la his love and admiration for Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, combined with his political role model, Hitler and his Nazi entourage of psychotics.
Our Don, who I believe should use the avatar of Tyrantosaurus Rex, is so self-consumed with his brilliance, his impeccable looks, his knowledge of eclectic matters such as the weather, that none of us will be surprised if Disneyland is renamed TrumpLand, and if the Lincoln Memorial is changed to the Trump-Lincoln Memorial. And yes, we’ll have to see which former Mt. Rushmore figure will be replaced with the most handsome and peace-achieving President of the United States (POTUS), Donald J. Trumpolini.
As a medical professional and educator, I suggest all medical students be required to devote at least one semester to examine the wide array of personality disorders all rolled up into one humanoid creature. We will start such a course with a description of malignant narcissism, then move on to sociopathic personality and its usual spectrum of psychopathy such as lack of empathy, mindset focused on revenge, belittlement of minorities, the handicapped, misogynist behavior, obsession with his growing collection of blonde bimbos, like his idiot Karoline Leavitt, incestuous fantasies, and, wait a minute, flagrant prevarication ‘like never before.” Perhaps it was Shakespeare envisioning this most unusual creature when he created the phrase “the paragon of all animals,” or was he misquoted and actually said, “the moron of mammals.”
How then, in the anals of mankind’s history (that’s not a typo, I did mean anals), did Americans, the citizens of a country of immigrants, end up with a majority voting this salesman from the gutters of Queens, NY, into the Oval Office?
How have we gone from Cool Hand Luke and “What we have here is a problem in communication.” to Con Man Trump and “What we have here is a total lack of integrity and morality.” But let us review for the record, before it is replaced with Trump’s version of history. What has this dreadful POTUS accomplished so far in a mere 12 months.
• Violation of the US Constitution: freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, due process, Emoluments Clause
• Gestapo tactics against immigrants and especially anyone looking different (e.g., Latinos, Somalis, Arabs, etc) leading to incarceration on the premise of criminality but where the percent criminality of those attacked, basically kidnapped is perhaps 3%.
• Hellfire missile attacks on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific without disclosure of criminality or flagrant threat to the US. Seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers by Trump declaring Maduro to be a terrorist threatening the US. (Be prepared for a land invasion as Trump goes after Venezuela’s oil reserves). And, BTW, the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier cost the American taxpayer $6-8 million dollars a day even when doing nothing. I would guesstimate the current belligerent actions in the Caribbean is costing us about $15 million per day.
• Trump pardoning a major drug dealing former president of Honduras (Juan Orlando Hernández) involving 400 tons of cocaine. That’s 800,000 pounds of cocaine. So much for Trump calling this a war against “narco-terrorists.” And of course, the Republican Congress stands by with their thumbs up their asses. The hypocrisy.
• Betrayal of the people of Ukraine and acquiescing to Putin in the “peace” agreement that will lead to the death and disappearance of the valiant Ukrainian population. This is a violation like non-other and is monumentally shameful in light of the Budapest Memorandum where our country pledged support of Ukraine and Russia pledged no acts of aggression. After Trump was not successful in his perfect phone call with President Zelensky, Trump has sold Ukraine, a sovereign country, to Putin. I wonder how many millions if not billions will be added to the coffers of Trump & sons with this Nobel Prize winning achievement.
• Genocide by proxy. Trump’s supplying Netanyahu with financial and military aid allowed another off-the-rail leader to murder over 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Two-thirds of these are women and children. As a Jew, God help us in this commission of genocide. Yes, a Nobel Prize split between Trump and Netanyahu. The hypocrisy. The immorality. The horror.
• Display of empathy by our Comrade-in-Chief. What a great role model for our children to not only show no sympathy for the family of Rob Reiner and his wife, but to instead say derogatory remarks about a dead man. You bet he’s consistent. Wasn’t John McCain as a POW a real loser? The paragon of animals is Rump.
• Pardoning those convicted of felonies in their attack on Capitol police and attempting to overthrow the US government. Yep, let’s get criminals off the streets, especially those poor slobs that weren’t given millions of dollars in inheritance by their father.
• I could go on for another two or three pages.
Alienate our allies, deny the Earth’s integrity, “drill baby drill,” “grab’em in the pussy,” keep classified documents alongside a toilet in case you run out of TP, cheat on your golf game, tear down the East Wing of the WH without approval of Congress, turn the White House into a multi-level marketing game show: Trump steaks, watches, coins, guitars. At least sell Trump toilet paper with a picture of you on each panel so I can clean my ass with your face. How fucking disgusting is this, our president. Dystopian, my ass. And this is why this snippet of an article has a subtitle, “I’m coming to your house to fuck you in the ass.” America, how do you like this experience?
We will not have Midterms. Trump & the GOP will do something to postpone or out"law" the Midterms. Our Ship of State is now called the USS Fascist. Somehow, someway, we have to toss the Captain and his crew overboard before they flounder the Ship and all is lost. Frankly, Scarlet, I don't know how we are going to accomplish this.
So what is your opinion on people who fight where they can but end up seeking asylum outside of the country because it becomes intolerably unsafe to remain? Because as a trans person actively involved in a group that is fighting the administration’s immigration policies I am very aware that, while I’m pretty safe in California for the moment, in the long term the administration has flat out said they want to remove me from society and, at best, put me in jail or a reeducation camp. And I know I won’t survive that. So my plan is to hang in as long as I can but leave when I feel I have to. So is that an acceptable course, or do you feel everyone needs to stay to the bitter end?
"A conspiracy of capital, operating openly in discourse, because we’ve forgotten what conspiracy means when the powerful coordinate their interests in plain sight and reporters frame it as smart competitive analysis."
When those without power coordinate in plain sight, it's called r/wallstreetbets and the powerful cry foul about how they're making short-selling investment funds go bust by taking long positions on stocks like GameStop.
"Notice what’s absent from this framing of the deal. ... Any constraint on capital beyond Washington access and approval probability."
This is unfettered, laissez-faire capitalism at its finest - its pinnacle - its ultimate apex, and is what the American public has been voting for every time they vote Republican. Not just for President, but for every office at every level; the Republicans have been working for this for nearly half a century, if not longer. It operates on the principle that everything is a transaction, and that the terms are dictated by who has the most power, where power is usually expressed purely in financial terms, though in external affairs military might is often substituted for financial power. ("I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it further.")
Under this system, contracts only exist for the purpose of those with greater power (money) to impose their terms on those with lesser power, and then justify those terms in whatever forum the contract specifies when there is a disagreement, usually one that operates in favor of the more powerful party. And these "contracts" are subject to change without notice for any reason, and can be ignored whenever the more powerful find it convenient.
Yes, it is completely incompatible with democracy, civilization, and the founding principles of the United States (as expressed in the Declaration, Constitution, and other contemporary documents). That hasn't let the Republicans stop them; just look at decisions like "Citizens" United, in which a group of well-funded right-wing activists (i.e. oligarchs and corporations, not citizens) radically altered the American political landscape.
I fear that the system is broken beyond repair by the usual means of democracy (i.e. voting and campaigning for office), because a significant fraction of the population (not a majority, but a vocal minority) and a majority of those in power support it wholeheartedly and loudly.
Paul Krugman's post today is excellent reading on how Trump and the Republicans have debased American political and social discourse:
"Yet, on reflection, I realized that there’s a story here that’s bigger than Trump, a story in which Trump is one especially egregious example of a larger pattern. What is that pattern? That being vicious and bigoted is cool, is based in current slang. Trump is one data point in the midst of an epidemic of performative hatemongering in America. And while most of this is emanating from right-wing extremists, not all of it is."
Warner is not primarily in journalism. Netflix is after the highly profitable film library and film production business. CNN is a tiny part of the balance sheet, a minor profit center at most. Trump wants to be sure that CNN is castrated. The Ellison group was positioning itself as more reliable to do that ... until allowing their CBS holding to be less than full-out-Trumpian. With either purchase, CNN gets deballed. From a business reporting POV, since that's on both sides of the equation, it gets cancelled out.
Glad you have shared these insights. Awareness of them is crucial if we are to survive as a democracy.
choose civilization built on democratic constraint. I choose institutions that serve public interest over favor-based advantages. I choose regulatory independence over access-based analysis. I choose refusing to normalize the discourse reporters now describe as normal business practice.
Because once we accept that deal success gets framed around political favor rather than public interest analysis, once we treat DC access as standard competitive variable, once we analyze regulatory approval through favor-cultivation rather than independent evaluation—we’ve lost more than one media company.
We’ve lost the possibility of democratic governance itself.
It’s bad enough to see this dynamic at work in any administration, but with one that’s beholden to an idiot president, the nightmare scenario becomes real.
I got a lot of pushback from reviewers recently on an article where I asserted that the US and China aren't offering competing social and economic models, just different versions of authoritarian crony capitalism. If the objections persist I will point them to this example
How is it Mike Brock is the only man speaking straight at it. How is that?
And who are you, some persons of means, doing nothing? Nothing, but showing off here? WTF. God Forgive Us. As I believe in No Man’s God. Get over your Ridiculous Assumptions Already. Who are You? I assert, you have little idea. Little Idea At All. Show me Otherwise.
Resisting deleting above. There is something to be learned by sitting with your own embarrassment. Who do I think I am to assert any such thing? Such audacity makes me ridiculous.
We are simply witnessing what happens when Democracy becomes purely transactional, as opposed to ideological. We need a much more balanced system of access, accreditation, and accountability. Hold Fast 🇺🇸
Warning: despite being highly educated, well-read, published, I also feel a need to use vulgar language. If you are offended by what the upper-class elite consider vulgar, stop here, and proceed no further. I was born in Jamaica, NY, minutes away from that piece of shit called Trump, the DIC (dealer-in-chief). So, read on if you have balls or something equivalent.
Every day with Trump and his scumbag Administration is a fucking nightmare. Pam Bondi as attorney general is a mockery of anything to do with justice. This is not a rape of Lady Liberty, this is Lady Liberty being beat to shit. This is blasphemy of anything remotely bordering on that which is right.
And many among me cannot discuss this. They prefer to ruminate about their fraternity songs from 63 fucking years ago, as if they were magically 17 years old again. Siblings, nephews and nieces are quiet about what has happened in the US.
I have two descriptions of what this Trump Nation is. The first is from Oliver K. as sent to me via an Instagram post:
“Behold. The festering carcass of American rot shoved into an ill-fitting suit: the sleaze of a conman, the cowardice of a draft dodger, the gluttony of a parasite, the racism of a Klansman, the sexism of a back-alley creep, the ignorance of a bar-stool drunk, and the greed of a hedge-fund ghoul-all spray-painted orange and paraded like a prize hog at a county fair. Not a president. Not even a man. Just the diseased distillation of everything this country swears it isn't but has always been-arrogance dressed up as exceptionalism, stupidity passed off as common sense, cruelty sold as toughness, greed exalted as ambition, and corruption worshiped like gospel. It is America's shadow made flesh, a rotting pumpkin idol proving that when a nation kneels before money, power, and spite, it doesn't just lose its soul-it shits out this bloated obscenity and calls it a leader.” Oliver Kornetzke, 9/3/25
Whew, that's a lot of venting. But I prefer more of a detailed report of what we are seeing, hearing and what we are immersed in.
_________________________________________________________________________________
We are the Germans. We are the Germans!
- previously published as: I’m coming to your house to fuck you in the ass"
From the title, you may have guessed that we are living in Dystopian times, especially in the US. But let me say, in light of the societal upheavals, these years under the Trump reign of terror, have been of logarithmically dysphoric. Our very own fascist leader is a diabolic mixture of Russian narrative a la his love and admiration for Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, combined with his political role model, Hitler and his Nazi entourage of psychotics.
Our Don, who I believe should use the avatar of Tyrantosaurus Rex, is so self-consumed with his brilliance, his impeccable looks, his knowledge of eclectic matters such as the weather, that none of us will be surprised if Disneyland is renamed TrumpLand, and if the Lincoln Memorial is changed to the Trump-Lincoln Memorial. And yes, we’ll have to see which former Mt. Rushmore figure will be replaced with the most handsome and peace-achieving President of the United States (POTUS), Donald J. Trumpolini.
As a medical professional and educator, I suggest all medical students be required to devote at least one semester to examine the wide array of personality disorders all rolled up into one humanoid creature. We will start such a course with a description of malignant narcissism, then move on to sociopathic personality and its usual spectrum of psychopathy such as lack of empathy, mindset focused on revenge, belittlement of minorities, the handicapped, misogynist behavior, obsession with his growing collection of blonde bimbos, like his idiot Karoline Leavitt, incestuous fantasies, and, wait a minute, flagrant prevarication ‘like never before.” Perhaps it was Shakespeare envisioning this most unusual creature when he created the phrase “the paragon of all animals,” or was he misquoted and actually said, “the moron of mammals.”
How then, in the anals of mankind’s history (that’s not a typo, I did mean anals), did Americans, the citizens of a country of immigrants, end up with a majority voting this salesman from the gutters of Queens, NY, into the Oval Office?
How have we gone from Cool Hand Luke and “What we have here is a problem in communication.” to Con Man Trump and “What we have here is a total lack of integrity and morality.” But let us review for the record, before it is replaced with Trump’s version of history. What has this dreadful POTUS accomplished so far in a mere 12 months.
• Violation of the US Constitution: freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, due process, Emoluments Clause
• Gestapo tactics against immigrants and especially anyone looking different (e.g., Latinos, Somalis, Arabs, etc) leading to incarceration on the premise of criminality but where the percent criminality of those attacked, basically kidnapped is perhaps 3%.
• Hellfire missile attacks on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific without disclosure of criminality or flagrant threat to the US. Seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers by Trump declaring Maduro to be a terrorist threatening the US. (Be prepared for a land invasion as Trump goes after Venezuela’s oil reserves). And, BTW, the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier cost the American taxpayer $6-8 million dollars a day even when doing nothing. I would guesstimate the current belligerent actions in the Caribbean is costing us about $15 million per day.
• Trump pardoning a major drug dealing former president of Honduras (Juan Orlando Hernández) involving 400 tons of cocaine. That’s 800,000 pounds of cocaine. So much for Trump calling this a war against “narco-terrorists.” And of course, the Republican Congress stands by with their thumbs up their asses. The hypocrisy.
• Betrayal of the people of Ukraine and acquiescing to Putin in the “peace” agreement that will lead to the death and disappearance of the valiant Ukrainian population. This is a violation like non-other and is monumentally shameful in light of the Budapest Memorandum where our country pledged support of Ukraine and Russia pledged no acts of aggression. After Trump was not successful in his perfect phone call with President Zelensky, Trump has sold Ukraine, a sovereign country, to Putin. I wonder how many millions if not billions will be added to the coffers of Trump & sons with this Nobel Prize winning achievement.
• Genocide by proxy. Trump’s supplying Netanyahu with financial and military aid allowed another off-the-rail leader to murder over 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Two-thirds of these are women and children. As a Jew, God help us in this commission of genocide. Yes, a Nobel Prize split between Trump and Netanyahu. The hypocrisy. The immorality. The horror.
• Display of empathy by our Comrade-in-Chief. What a great role model for our children to not only show no sympathy for the family of Rob Reiner and his wife, but to instead say derogatory remarks about a dead man. You bet he’s consistent. Wasn’t John McCain as a POW a real loser? The paragon of animals is Rump.
• Pardoning those convicted of felonies in their attack on Capitol police and attempting to overthrow the US government. Yep, let’s get criminals off the streets, especially those poor slobs that weren’t given millions of dollars in inheritance by their father.
• I could go on for another two or three pages.
Alienate our allies, deny the Earth’s integrity, “drill baby drill,” “grab’em in the pussy,” keep classified documents alongside a toilet in case you run out of TP, cheat on your golf game, tear down the East Wing of the WH without approval of Congress, turn the White House into a multi-level marketing game show: Trump steaks, watches, coins, guitars. At least sell Trump toilet paper with a picture of you on each panel so I can clean my ass with your face. How fucking disgusting is this, our president. Dystopian, my ass. And this is why this snippet of an article has a subtitle, “I’m coming to your house to fuck you in the ass.” America, how do you like this experience?
We will not have Midterms. Trump & the GOP will do something to postpone or out"law" the Midterms. Our Ship of State is now called the USS Fascist. Somehow, someway, we have to toss the Captain and his crew overboard before they flounder the Ship and all is lost. Frankly, Scarlet, I don't know how we are going to accomplish this.
12/18/25
So what is your opinion on people who fight where they can but end up seeking asylum outside of the country because it becomes intolerably unsafe to remain? Because as a trans person actively involved in a group that is fighting the administration’s immigration policies I am very aware that, while I’m pretty safe in California for the moment, in the long term the administration has flat out said they want to remove me from society and, at best, put me in jail or a reeducation camp. And I know I won’t survive that. So my plan is to hang in as long as I can but leave when I feel I have to. So is that an acceptable course, or do you feel everyone needs to stay to the bitter end?
Do what you need to keep yourself safe 🤗 you have allies who will continue to fight here, while you cheer us on from afar
"A conspiracy of capital, operating openly in discourse, because we’ve forgotten what conspiracy means when the powerful coordinate their interests in plain sight and reporters frame it as smart competitive analysis."
When those without power coordinate in plain sight, it's called r/wallstreetbets and the powerful cry foul about how they're making short-selling investment funds go bust by taking long positions on stocks like GameStop.
"Notice what’s absent from this framing of the deal. ... Any constraint on capital beyond Washington access and approval probability."
This is unfettered, laissez-faire capitalism at its finest - its pinnacle - its ultimate apex, and is what the American public has been voting for every time they vote Republican. Not just for President, but for every office at every level; the Republicans have been working for this for nearly half a century, if not longer. It operates on the principle that everything is a transaction, and that the terms are dictated by who has the most power, where power is usually expressed purely in financial terms, though in external affairs military might is often substituted for financial power. ("I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it further.")
Under this system, contracts only exist for the purpose of those with greater power (money) to impose their terms on those with lesser power, and then justify those terms in whatever forum the contract specifies when there is a disagreement, usually one that operates in favor of the more powerful party. And these "contracts" are subject to change without notice for any reason, and can be ignored whenever the more powerful find it convenient.
Yes, it is completely incompatible with democracy, civilization, and the founding principles of the United States (as expressed in the Declaration, Constitution, and other contemporary documents). That hasn't let the Republicans stop them; just look at decisions like "Citizens" United, in which a group of well-funded right-wing activists (i.e. oligarchs and corporations, not citizens) radically altered the American political landscape.
I fear that the system is broken beyond repair by the usual means of democracy (i.e. voting and campaigning for office), because a significant fraction of the population (not a majority, but a vocal minority) and a majority of those in power support it wholeheartedly and loudly.
Paul Krugman's post today is excellent reading on how Trump and the Republicans have debased American political and social discourse:
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/why-trumps-viciousness-matters
"Yet, on reflection, I realized that there’s a story here that’s bigger than Trump, a story in which Trump is one especially egregious example of a larger pattern. What is that pattern? That being vicious and bigoted is cool, is based in current slang. Trump is one data point in the midst of an epidemic of performative hatemongering in America. And while most of this is emanating from right-wing extremists, not all of it is."
Warner is not primarily in journalism. Netflix is after the highly profitable film library and film production business. CNN is a tiny part of the balance sheet, a minor profit center at most. Trump wants to be sure that CNN is castrated. The Ellison group was positioning itself as more reliable to do that ... until allowing their CBS holding to be less than full-out-Trumpian. With either purchase, CNN gets deballed. From a business reporting POV, since that's on both sides of the equation, it gets cancelled out.
Listening to John Prine “ That’s How Every Empire Falls.” Please share
Glad you have shared these insights. Awareness of them is crucial if we are to survive as a democracy.
choose civilization built on democratic constraint. I choose institutions that serve public interest over favor-based advantages. I choose regulatory independence over access-based analysis. I choose refusing to normalize the discourse reporters now describe as normal business practice.
Because once we accept that deal success gets framed around political favor rather than public interest analysis, once we treat DC access as standard competitive variable, once we analyze regulatory approval through favor-cultivation rather than independent evaluation—we’ve lost more than one media company.
We’ve lost the possibility of democratic governance itself.
It’s bad enough to see this dynamic at work in any administration, but with one that’s beholden to an idiot president, the nightmare scenario becomes real.
As Dr. David Brin puts it : I am a member of a civilization. These things, i will defend.
I got a lot of pushback from reviewers recently on an article where I asserted that the US and China aren't offering competing social and economic models, just different versions of authoritarian crony capitalism. If the objections persist I will point them to this example
We are in a Desperate State.
How is it Mike Brock is the only man speaking straight at it. How is that?
And who are you, some persons of means, doing nothing? Nothing, but showing off here? WTF. God Forgive Us. As I believe in No Man’s God. Get over your Ridiculous Assumptions Already. Who are You? I assert, you have little idea. Little Idea At All. Show me Otherwise.
Resisting deleting above. There is something to be learned by sitting with your own embarrassment. Who do I think I am to assert any such thing? Such audacity makes me ridiculous.
“[It] seems nothing more now, than the purely subjective, impotent, illusory creature of my temperament.” • Proust •
We are simply witnessing what happens when Democracy becomes purely transactional, as opposed to ideological. We need a much more balanced system of access, accreditation, and accountability. Hold Fast 🇺🇸