Eww.
Philosopher, Theologian, Polite Leftie Radical, Ex-techie, Episcopalian, Trans Woman, Optimist of the Will only
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Eww.
Philosophy is a practice, and as MacIntyre put it, practices are defined by their INTERNAL goods. The external benefits are gravy, not the meal. Higher ed gave up on the idea of internal goods of study a long time ago. Plus, here, Maximum Leader wants us all dead anyway. Higher ed gets in the way.
I hate being a Cassandra, but why are we all presupposing there will BE a 2028 election? Or, for that matter, a 2026 one? I think it would be prudent to suppose that when Maximum Leader said, "You Christians will never have to vote again!" he meant it. Blue-state governors are now the front line.
Of all the dangerous m-fers in the Trump Administration, he is by far the most dangerous. And that is saying something.
I just saw someone refer to rfk jr as microwaved mel gibson & i can’t unsee it.
I think of all the crackpots and nitwits in the Trumpist kakistocracy, RFKjr is the worst and most dangerous. He doesn't understand the relationship between health and disease, he doesn't affirm the germ theory of disease, common coin in medicine since Pasteur.I am scared stiff of the next pandemic.
I've been feeling that way too. But I chalk it up to the fact that I will soon be 71, and have already used up almost all the fucks I have to give. Peace that passeth understanding.
I.Y.K.Y.K.
"A mural of the Statue of Liberty in shame" by JDL Street Ar in Lille , Roubaix France 🇫🇷
Just a reminder that, since the Cracker Barrel culture war skirmish has apparently ended, this is the actual fare that was being argued about. Frankly, I would rather chug an entire bottle of Sriracha than dig into that fried okra. It's beige for God's sake. At least Taco Bell is colorful.
I stumbled upon this on Instagram a while back, and I thought it was funny. I even think "Swifties" would appreciate it: www.tiktok.com/@ceragibson/...
Yeah, I kind of get it now, so credit where it is due. Thing about the Beatles was, however, their songwriting, which even in their "boy band" days was superior to almost anything else. I don't think her songwriting is in anywhere near that, but you could say the same of most music now AND then.
Being and Tom Clancy's Nothingness.
This is, indeed, the stupidest FT piece I have read in a long time, and that speaks volumes. Plus: will someone explain Swiftie-mania to me? Maybe I am just a senescent boomer who still listens to Pink Floyd, but while she admittedly has some talent, I do not see ANYTHING special about her.
Ahhh...lifestyle! The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie at work! At least some of their recipes are good.
Big balls indeed.
He gives megalomania a bad name.
"F" is a verb.
Maybe I am just an old fart boomer trans woman who still listens to Pink Floyd, but could someone please explain Taylor Swift to me? She is not UNtalented, but I don't hear anything special. She's not Joni Mitchell, Alicia Keys, Ann Wilson, or Tina Turner. Nothing special. What am I missing?
The more humans I meet lately, the more I prefer trees.
When Nixon said approximately the same thing to David Frost, the latter's jaw hit the floor. Nowadays.......meh. Any nation that elects an evil clown like him deserves everything it has coming to it. Hopefully, that will be therapeutic. But I am not betting the farm on it.
My own disconcerting take is that "they WANT us to die." "If they would rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population." -- Ebeneezer Scrooge RFKjr's eugenicist view on health is that health/sickness are inherent traits, and if you can't cut the mustard, well that's on you.
The Prosciutto Resistance. Ecrasez l'infame!
Hang in there, friend. You did the right thing.
Yarvin almost comes across as slightly more bonkers. Almost.
Here we go again, through the Looking Glass. Whee!
I ate there once. It was borderline traumatic. The beige okra fries will affect me for life. Too gruesome to recall. The horror, the horror.....
Many thanks. Not sure we have 3 years, but hey... I will say this though: IF Newsom and Hochul realize that they need to cobble together inter-Blue-state compacts to set up a united front against Trump, I'll salute them and support them to the extent its necessary. But that's all. Go Mamdani.....
Agreed 100%. Newsom, besides being a closet transphobe, has the personal charm of a used car dealer. He lacks gravitas: the shitposting is entertaining, but that's all. Hochul is untrustworthy. Pritzker needs to call out the IL Nat Guard in anticipation of what's coming to Chicago. Pronto.
IMHO the 2024 elections was a one-issue election. That sucked, but it was true: Trump is a Fascist, and Project 2025 will destroy US Democracy, such as it is, which isn't much. The "Trump is weird" narrative was working, but it wasn't enough, and they ditched it. And now we're here.
"Commoditized slop" is now also a permanent part of my political vocabulary. Thank you!
Three better ideas: 1) Wash the American Flag. Similar point, won't get you arrested (maybe). 2) Burn a Confederate Flag. (Again, not anti-Exec Order, but the crowd might beat you up. 3) Burn a Trump 2024 flag. Maybe then they'll catch the irony. Then again, they don't really get irony, so.....
My latest piece on Substack, a tribute to my late colleague Dick Bernstein and why I am a Political Theologian and Philosopher who is suspicious of Political Theology and Philosophy. open.substack.com/pub/lauranel...
This guy is vile.
This guy gives Megalomania a bad name.
Once again, the NYT demonstrates its mastery of the 'No-Shit-Sherlock' style of journalism. I mean.....well DUH. Always the Grey Lady doyenne of "Keep Calm and Carry On" bougie complacency. At least they still have Jamelle Bouie. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/u...
This talk is authentically and categorically insane. Beyond merely crazy. And yet the press corps will go back to their offices and both-sides this to death. It never fails to sicken me.
"Heil Cankles" is now a key part of my political vocabulary. Many thanks!
This this this this! I have been saying this whenever I put on my Analytic Philosopher of Mind hat or my Merleau-Pontyan body-intentionality hat. We are scared of AI for all the wrong reasons. The chucklehead CEOs in the corner office throwing gobs of money at AI are the problem. And Sam Altman.
"[L]iberalism can’t and shouldn’t claim complete cultural neutrality. Liberalism is also a fighting creed." -- Charles Taylor, "The Politics of Recognition" I think Taylor might be a good choice to defend Liberal Democratic Republicanism today. He's also Canadian. That tracks.......
"[L]iberalism can’t and shouldn’t claim complete cultural neutrality. Liberalism is also a fighting creed." -- Charles Taylor, "The Politics of Recognition" I think Taylor might be a good choice to defend Liberal Democratic Republicanism today. He's also Canadian. That tracks.......
Indeed. Not optimistic but there's always hope.
Sweet fiddlin' jeezus!
OH MY SWEET LORD!!!!!!! Beige food!....... Sub-college-cafeteria fare!
New Substack item. open.substack.com/pub/lauranel...
The No-Shit-Sherlock School of Journalism www.nytimes.com/2025/08/23/u...
This should put to rest the claims, however tongue-in-cheek, that maximum leader is some kind of secret Maoist or Stalinist state socialist. If this is socialism, it is socialism for the corporate rich and the capo de tutti capi. Which kinda sounds like Fascism.
Is it Fascism yet? Is it Civil War yet? Shitposting is funny, South Park is funny. We need a good laugh now and then. But it is far from putting up effective resistance and refusal. The ball is now in the Blue State governors' and legislatures' courts. Time to be serious.
That trend is now solidly established. So far, West Virginia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Ohio have all sent Nat Guard troops to "straighten out" DC. And maximum leader has promised similar straightening outs to NYC and SF. There is no more "union." Scary yet true.
Pritzker needs to activate the Illinois National Guard. Fast. So should Hochul, Newsom (if he still can), and any other Blue state governor. We are past the tipping point where normal politics can take care of this. So why not flip the script on "States Rights" and show Trump we mean business?
My gyre has been so wide lately you could ride Cuchulain's horse through it all the way to Byzantium!
the bus to enchant "centrists." Thank you for your service in thwarting Darth Realtor, Govs. Newsom and Hochul. Now go away. Either that or yes, I'd prefer emigration. Iceland seems nice.
But I do NOT think well of Newsom and Hochul as potential leaders of the new Iron Front. When Trumpism goes away, the USA as we know it needs to be rebuilt top to bottom. Collaborators and enablers will be remembered. Which includes Newsom, who was more than willing to throw trans people under
I suspect that all this is going to end in something between a "soft secession" and outright conflict between Blue and Red state national guards. If that's the case, then I'd encourage Newsom, Hochul, and Pritzker alike to be as confrontational as they like. Knock yourselves out and good for you.
Let me go out on a limb here. Insofar as--and only insofar as--Newsom is willing to confront Trump's authoritarian power-grab, and to exercise state power in doing so, well hats off to him. But I have long thought he has the personality of a used car salesman. Awful, untrustworthy. & opportunistic
Yes. Newsom and Hochul take note.....
Better than Denny's, that's for sure. (Still can't hold a candle to the Shoreline Diner in Guilford CT, though. Now THAT slaps!)
Boutique kettle chips from Fairway would have been better but, hey, make do with what's at hand.
Consider, though, that the $160 was in a Herr's Sour Cream potato chip bag. Savory!
Gospel Parallels to The Rise of White Christian Nationalism? open.substack.com/pub/jennifer...
".....and I didn't gag even once!"
Blue state governors better be prepared to activate their National Guards on a moment's notice. The Red State soldiers are coming to your city soon. To paraphrase Patrick Henry, if this be civil war cosplay, make the most of it.
Keep in mind when they talk about "radical left loony base" they have in mind Marxist-Leninist-Kropotkinist-Syndicalist lunatics like Kamala Harris, JB Pritzker, and their ringleader Gavin Newsom. (Entertainment provided by Taylor Swift.)
I have never been more proud to be an old white hippie. And a trans one too! Win-win in the eyes of MAGA I suppose.....
It has very, VERY similar chord changes to Jackson Browne's "The Load Out/Stay" on HIS live album!
Oh shit. Why Did Trump Deploy Warships to Venezuela? www.mind-war.com/p/why-did-tr...
Word! (The central fact about both is their "either/or" spottiness. Either they produce cornball schmaltz (ET, Uptown Girl) or true brilliance (Jaws, Indiana Jones 1, "You May Be Right", "Miami 2017/Lights go out on Broadway," which is the best Jackson Browne song not written by Jackson Browne).
The Little Red Musical?.....
I found this a SUPREMELY weird thing for him to say..... Completely inconsistent with his overwhelming need to overinflate the false self to compensate for his narcissistic wound. Weird. Unless he wants us to sympathize with him & say he's a good boy after all. In which case, he can fuck off.
Cruelty as religion. Unreal.
Live so that if your Life was a Book Florida would Ban it 🤷🏽♀️
This looks amazing. When did this album come out?
Klaas's article for comparison and contrast: www.forkingpaths.co/p/just-war-t...
A while back, Brian Klaas published a piece in Substack on the Just War Tradition and how the war in Gaza subjects it to a stress test. A while back, I wrote a piece that, in effect, suggests the tradition MAY have outlived its usefulness. lnelson10051954.medium.com/is-the-just-...
Darth Realtor looks very, VERY uncomfortable. Good.
I have this perverse wish that Zelenskii and the rest of the European delegation insult Darth Realtor as severely as he insulted them, then hit the USA with an EU-run Boycott-Divest-and-Sanction policy. It'll hurt in the short run, but the USA far more than them. And we fucking well deserve it.
existentialcomics.com/comic/616
Almost as bad as Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV. Message to Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O'Donnell: run. Run like Hell.
Message to Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow: run like hell.
After the Payless stores closed, I, among many other trans women I know, was in mourning. However, I've found Dream Pairs flats to be very comfortable and reasonably priced. I'm not sure if they come in 13, but their 12s are roomy. Payless also continues to sell online, but on Amazon, bah.
😑
All I can say is: Hochul, Pritzker, and Newsom better be prepared to mobilize their State's National Guards (Can Newsom do that after Darth Realtor summoned them to LA?) as soon as the present regime decides to send in the goons to blue cities. If this is a distraction, its a damn serious one.
Is she covering for Bill or something? Or is she giving a covert middle-finger to Obama for getting the Nobel basically because he wasn't George W. Bush? Or is she just that deluded by Centrist "Bipartisan Comity?" Yeah. Da fuck?.....
Yeah, it's crazy. But I have come to the conclusion that we are living in a surrealist Dali landscape now. I mean, what else can you conclude when our "Reichstag incident" might be "The Big Balls Carjacking Putsch'?
Practical work suggestions for philosophy PhD students who are on track for academic careers...
Contingency Planning www.offmessage.net/p/contingenc... Interesting, timely judicious,...and disconcerting.
Cuomo COULD win: never underestimate the reasonably well off cis straight white male boomers' propensity to get frantic when anyone mentions "Socialism." Oh the other hand, if enough Millennials and Gen Z's vote, Mamdani should waltz to victory. "Nihilism is exhausting." -- Jeff the Dude Lebowski
I fear Cuomo has a chance. Never underestimate the power of cis straight white male boomers with decent stock portfolios and an aversion to "those people" to stick with "centrists." Their number is legion. On the other hand, if enough Millennials & Gen Z vote, game over. Mamdani walks to victory.
Schumer & the "Centrist" Dems are slaves to procedural norms and bipartisan compromise. I get it, but this is not an era of normal politics. Hochul and Newsom are what Nietzsche called "passive nihilists", but, having no convictions, normative or otherwise, means they might actually put up a fight.
Both Hochul and Newsom are what Nietzsche called "passive nihilists." They don't want to set the world on fire, but they think and act ad hoc because nothing ultimately matters. Unlike centrists, stuck in neutral forever. But hell if she stands up to Trump for New Yorkers, count me in. Yaaas Queen.
Today's "trending"... We have passed through Alice's looking glass.
Something very beautiful---photos taken from the ISS---which is needed in these not-so-beautiful times. www.theatlantic.com/photography/...
Reading this, I think our home-grown maximum leader is not looking to model himself along the lines of Orban or Bolsonaro. He's going full-bore Kim Jong-Un, alongside whom the others seem pipsqueaks. This isn't even a reversion to Hobbes. It's Filmer's fucking "Patriarcha: Divine Power of Kings"
If everything is a "distraction," nothing is. There are no "distractions" in Trumpistan. I do not want to keep hearing "Is this a Constitutional Crisis yet?" That happened a long time ago with Bush v. Gore. The rule of law is gone, and with it, political legitimacy. Post-USA.
This is frighteningly prescient. Wow. I hope the "US Soldiers Refuse Orders" Headline comes true. They may have their chance soon.
Beam me up Scotty. Please. authorsguild.org/human-author...
Put on your asbestos sneakers and round up the bucket brigade.....
sirosenbaum.bsky.social 
Chris 