Mark McNease On Topic (Substack)
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Tis the season for stockings full of crap
Who doesn’t want to end the year with a Trump-ordered impeachment of President Biden, the man who kicked his ass once and will kick it again?
Who doesn’t want to see Ukraine abandoned in the manger while Jesus, Mary, and the Republican House head off for selfies and sleigh bells?
Who doesn’t look forward to a continuation of all-Trump-all-the-time media coverage of the only man whose obituary I long every day to read?
Who takes comfort in knowing even monsters die?
Me! Me! Me!
Can we stop calling them ‘Supreme’?
Unsurprising, to say the least. The Republican justices (for that’s what they are, not “conservative”) are political hacks through and through. They lie and deceive and live lavish, kingly lives bought and paid for. We can’t do anything about their unaccountable power at this point, but we can stop pretending they deserve the least bit of respect, no matter how they decide. America is so broken, in so many ways. It all appears to have been a very long-lasting fiction that is now threadbare and exposed as the corrupt-from-to-to-bottom smoke and mirrors it always was.
From Dahlia Lithwick in Slate:
“With each new peek behind the curtain, this fantasy becomes more difficult to buy into, even for those desperate to believe. It turns out that the justices—at least five of them on the right—are functionally indistinguishable from cynical partisan lawmakers making deals in the Senate cloakroom. It turns out that abortion rights vanished in America because five conservatives barely tried to hide the fact that they could do that, simply because they could do that. And it turns out that they’re increasingly bad at covering their tracks.”
Mark’s Substack recommendations
You know I love Kareem Abdul-Jabar’s exhaustive Substack with news, commentary and so much more, and I thoroughly enjoy Jeff Tiedrich for his vulgar ferocity. This week I’m recommending economist Robert Reich. He’s such an advocate for democracy and against corrupt and corrosive capitalism. He’s on my must-read list.
From his Substack today:
Friends,
On Saturday, during a campaign speech in Durham, New Hampshire, Donald Trump invoked Vladimir Putin (of all people) as proof that he’s being persecuted:
“Putin says that Biden’s — and this is a quote — politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia, because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.”
Some commentators see this and other Trump assertions about being persecuted as calculated efforts to fuel his base.
But what if Trump really thinks he’s being persecuted? What if he has a persecution complex? What if he believes his paranoid fantasies?
Trump is not facing nearly the same scrutiny for his age as is Joe Biden, yet Trump should be — especially as to increasing signs of dementia.
Biden is sane. He’s getting major bills passed. He’s negotiating with world leaders.
But Trump — who has a family history of dementia — is increasingly incoherent and unhinged.
Check him out.
Flown the coop
These are my friends Ken (L) and Karlos (R). They just moved to Brazil! Mostly because they can afford to retire there, but also to get the fck out of this insane country called America. I love New Jersey, but as the United States becomes two countries (I know which one I will always live in), I think more people will really start getting out of here. I wish them well, and I’m grateful for WhatsApp, making it easy and free to communicate with them. (Ken goes all the way back to my L.A. days when he was friends with me and my late partner Jim. We have, as they say, history.)
Christmas freebie!
I’m giving away my brand new release, Hell to Pay: A House in the Woods 1 and 2, to subscribers via BookFunnel. Just CLICK HERE to download, and remember to please to leave a rating or review.
Dig the new logo! 2024 is all about fun and subversion
Today’s parting shot
