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Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Hair Brush - Duke's, Wooden, circa 1950

Democracy, that is…

Anyway, this might not have anything to do with autocracy versus democracy, but what’s with strongman-wannabes and bizarro hairdos?

To wit:

BTW, if you have a week stomach when it comes to bad hair, do NOT watch this video.


2. Boris, Bad (Hair) Boy, Johnosn


3. Bad hair newcomer Javier, Have Hair, Milei


And of course, the riegning autocratic king of bad hair, the title all bad hair dictator-wannabes strive for…

4. Kim Jong-un, the Dictator of Bad Hair, or Dic-Hair Supreme for short


Okay, I admit, there probably isn’t any relationship between unruly hair and rightwing political extremism, and perhaps this post is a bit immature and in bad taste, but, hey, it sure was fun to put together.

And like profound philosopher Sheryl Crow melodically professes: if it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad

Yeah…


1. Behold! the gruesome reality of Trump's hair is finally known, Mashable, February 7, 2018
2. The Truth About Boris Johnson's Hair Revealed, Nicki Swift, March 1, 2022
3. Javier Milei lanzó su candidatura a diputado, infofueguina.com, September 26, 2020
4. Kim Jong-un’s Haircut Is Now Trending in North Korea (Because It's the Law), GQ, December 1, 2015
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When We Were King*

If only we had sane, country first politicians in office who could run a functioning Congress that could take strategic advantage of the economic woes and geo-political fallout from the heavy-handed bullying and uncivil friendships that China has brought upon itself.

Yeah… if only.

Twenty years from now, if not sooner, when the dollar is no longer king* and the sole international currency of choice and, leveraging all the secrets it has stolen during the past decades from all our previously leading sectors, China has become the world’s leading economy and has manned a military base on the moon strong enough to thwart our dreams of space dominance, we’re going to be kicking ourselves in our bloated and ignorant political butts for missing this window of opportunity.

Or something like that…


Mr. Xi has been trying to stabilize relations with Washington, apparently pressed by China’s economic troubles and a desire to reduce Beijing’s diplomatic isolation. “We have a thousand reasons to grow the relationship between China and the United States, and none at all to ruin it,” Mr. Xi told American lawmakers in Beijing recently.

But with mutual distrust running deep, any easing of antagonism between the two sides could be tenuous.

Behind Public Assurances, Xi Jinping Spread Grim Views on U.S., New York Times, November 13, 2023

*non-gender specific

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Cue the Rocky theme song…

Boxing gloves clipart, illustration psd

The ultimate nepo baby, George Dubya Bush and his Good Ol’ White Boy (mostly) Club O’ Iraqi War Criminals drove me from the once honorable (if you go back to Lincoln anyway) and still somewhat sane (at least before unrecallable Reagan) Republican Party, and Trump, the antepenultimate nepo baby, of course coming just before his first two nepo offspring (and not counting Eric, who would, or the other two (as far as we know) burgeoning and relatively unknown (thank god) offsprings), and his dangerous cult drove me, not only from politics as a whole, but from any engagement online with anyone who might be maga-inclined, meaning I stopped posting entries here and I deleted all my social accounts.

And it was a good thing I did…

Continue reading Cue the Rocky theme song…
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A bad day for clowns…

Clown collage element vector

A good day for Democracy.

Democracy – 2 | Clowns – 0


UPDATE: What’s Einstein’s definition of insanity again? >> House Is Paralyzed as Jordan Fails in Third Bid for Speaker


Image courtesy of Reuters

The House has been without a leader for more than two weeks, and Jordan has twice failed to secure the 217 votes needed to claim the speaker’s gavel as he has faced opposition from Democrats and more than 20 of his fellow Republicans.

Jordan suspends bid for US House speaker, backs McHenry, Reuters, October 19, 2023

#🎉


FLASHBACK: Rep. Jim Jordan accused of participating in OSU sexual abuse cover-up by ex-wrestler

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The Kraken has left the building…

Papagallo no.15 la Piovra Russa Anno VI by Augusto Grossi (1835-1919), a cartoon depiction of Europe in 1878, using caricatures and monster kraken. Original from Library of Congress. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

A lot of mindboggling, dangerously silly things happened in the Trump aftermath that made it hard to look away… this human clown perhaps was the most riveting and embarassingly entertaining of them all.

Image courtesy the New York Times

Few defenders of Mr. Trump promoted election fraud theories after his 2020 defeat to Joseph R. Biden Jr. as stridently as Ms. Powell. In high-profile appearances, often alongside other members of the Trump legal team, she pushed conspiracies involving Venezuela, Cuba and China, as well as George Soros, Hugo Chávez and the Clintons, while baselessly claiming that voting machines had flipped millions of votes.

Sidney Powell Pleads Guilty in Georgia Trump Case, New York Times, October 19, 2023

Yup, gonna be a lot, and I mean a lot, of Kraken jokes floating around the webosphere today…

#smh


UPDATE: Just noticed in the featured image, courtesy of Openverse, that the kraken has Russia written across its forehead. Coincidence?

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An Expression of Love

Don’t worry, my relentless efforts to completely overpower you politically is nothing more than a love-like expression… 😘


The actual exercise of physical violence substitutes for the psychological relations between two minds, which is of the essence of political power, the physical relation between two bodies.” He wrote that “all foreign policy is the struggle for the minds of men.” Genuine political power couldn’t be forced on people. It was complex, organic, unquantifiable. Elsewhere, Morgenthau compared it to love.

The Book That Shaped Foreign Policy for a Generation Has More to Say, NewYork Times, May 9, 2020
Virtually as soon as it was published, Hans Morgenthau’s “Politics Among Nations” became one of the most influential books of the 20th century. Credit…Associated Press [Via the New York Times]

#alonetogetherexpressingourlovepolitically

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THE GOOD KILL – A Synopsis

During the battle to liberate Mosul from the brutal grip of the Islamic State, Killian Lebon, a war-weary Navy SEAL Senior Chief, sustains life-threatening injuries from an explosion during a rescue operation that goes horribly wrong…

Continue reading THE GOOD KILL – A Synopsis

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United States of Me

The egalitarianism typical of human hunter-gatherers is interesting when viewed in an evolutionary context. One of humanity’s two closest primate relatives, the chimpanzee, is anything but egalitarian, forming hierarchies that are dominated by alpha males. So great is the contrast with human hunter-gatherers that it is widely argued by palaeoanthropologists that resistance to being dominated was a key factor driving the development of human consciousness, language, kinship, and social organization. . . [WIKIPEDIA]

While I’m loathe to give credit to the hardcore Silicon tech bros due to so many of them having a bent toward misogyny and authoritarian ideals, which also made Trump so appealing to so many of these tech nerd dictator-wanna-bes, a la Peter Thiel, however, one of their ideals that somewhat sort of does appeal to me is a their striving toward a kind of hyper-freedom/ individualism, a striving so much so that some, again a la Peter Theil, are working to create these technology island havens of sort where each island would be governed autonomously as its own country and where, it seems to me, the island owners could proclaim themselves king or queen.

Continue reading United States of Me