Today is a full month subsequent to my last post here, and indeed the shit has hit the old, worn-out fan over and over again. The fan is just about clogged with the ugly, taxing shit.
Since nearly this entire year has been nothing but horror beyond the spoken/written word that it’s got me in a grip of a kind of writer’s block of sadness, shame and simple sorrow which cripples my creative juices, or from creating any kind of juice at all. I’ve always been that way.
I have to feel somewhat good to write. Weird, I know, but I’m weird so it works.
In a short space of time, the T-Rump and his pandering assholes have been dismantling the America we’ve been accustomed to the last 250 years. And he’s done it without any sense of empathy or any relatable feeling except for his own and no one else’s. Chaos embedded with cruelty is the framework of his entire being. It’s depressing about the shock of how quickly life shifted.
And the shitty-ass lie in projection — T-Rump earlier this week: ‘“Not only are these service members defending the honor of citizens of California, they’re also defending our republic itself … And they are heroes. They’re fighting for us. They’re stopping an invasion, just like you’d stop an invasion. The big difference is, most of the time when you stop an invasion, they’re wearing a uniform. In many ways. It’s tougher when they’re not wearing a uniform, because you don’t know exactly who they are.”‘
Meanwhile, on or about now:
What a year this week has been, and it's not even over.Some thoughts at CAMPAIGN TRAILS:
— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) 2025-06-13T18:09:32.639Z
A swirl:
During these early months of Trump II: The Revenge, we’ve all been subjected to an overwhelming flood of outrages – unconstitutional power grabs, international emergencies, economic chaos, an assault on higher education, a wave of white nationalist race-baiting, bigoted culture warrior nonsense and so, so much more.
The effort to overwhelm us, of course, has been intentional. In yet another sign that the Trump team is both deeply unoriginal and yet wildly ignorant of history, Republicans bragged that the start of this new administration would be marked by a massive “shock and awe” campaign like the one that kicked off the invasion of Iraq two decades ago. (Brilliant model, you History Knowers. I have no notes.)
Even though it seemed impossible, this campaign of intentional chaos shifted into an even higher gear this past week.
Incompetence shadow the shameless, audacious asshole:
You guys…..when Corey says it’s bad
— Molly Jong-Fast (@mollyjongfast.bsky.social) 2025-06-13T13:37:04.295Z
And our current horror:
#Israel’s strikes on #Iran present a critical test for the Trump admin. Iran expert Nima Gerami unpacks the strategic stakes and outlines key questions policymakers should ask to navigate what comes next: www.justsecurity.org/114547/strat…
— Just Security (@justsecurity.org) 2025-06-13T18:15:21.989Z
Via the Just Security post:
Even before the Israeli strikes, Iranian leaders made their retaliatory intentions clear. IRGC commander Gen. Salami—now confirmed killed—warned on June 12 that Iran’s “next confrontation with Israel will be far more crushing, devastating, and destructive” than any prior exchange. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian emphasized Iran’s resilience in the face of Israeli attacks, declaring earlier this year, “If [Israel] strikes a hundred nuclear facilities, we will build a thousand more.”
Still, Iran may yet exercise restraint. The lesson from Oct. 2024 is that Tehran’s calculus is not only technical but strategic. During that previous exchange with Israel, Iran refrained from responding to direct Israeli strikes on its territory, based on the calculation that a major escalation risked overwhelming its defenses.
The United States, while publicly emphasizing diplomacy, has been preparing for the worst. Prior to the Israeli operation, U.S. diplomatic personnel were partially evacuated from Baghdad, and military families were withdrawn from several bases across the Persian Gulf. President Donald Trump, who acknowledged he was aware of Israel’s plans before the attack, has wavered between distancing the United States from the operation and warning Iran that this is its last chance to strike a deal. “There is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,” Trump said. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.”
And like every-fucking-thing-else, we’re up shit creek without much of a paddle.
Hope there is at least a chunk of two of a paddle, anyway. Yet the knowledge that the cruel, waywardly ignorant Trump and his posse are in charge does give the immediate future a dark, ominous shine.
Maybe a mystery inside the soothing sounds of an enigma:
Up shit creek, or not, yet here we are once again …
(Illustration out front: Salvador Dalí’s “The Burning Giraffe” [1937], oil on panel, and found here.)