Month: August 2021

The Streaming Wars Could Force The Sale Of CNN


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems almost inevitable at this point that NBC Universal will try to bulk up against Disney and buy Discovery Warner Brothers once it finally comes into existence. Since NBC Universal owns MSBNC, something would have to be done with CNN.

Who’s going to buy CNN?

The obvious candidate to buy CNN — which would cost, at a minimum, $1 billion — would be Amazon. But our favorite fascist nutjob Josh Hawley has already been very public about his opposition to such a thing.

So, it’s very possible that someone unexpected would have to buy CNN. Disney owns ABC, but it doesn’t own a cable news outlet, and neither does Paramount CBC. So, it seems as though either one of those two could be willing to shell out the vast sum of money necessary to buy CNN.

Though, if you wanted to think outside the box, The New York Times Company might be interested, as would MacKenzie Scott or Laurene Powell Jobs.

Anyway, the fate of CNN is something to keep in the back of your mind. I have long thought Turner Broadcasting had long outlived its purpose and should be folded into Warner Brothers as part of a massive corporate re-org. There’s no need to have any of CNN left in Atlanta. It should all be out of NYC.

What do I know. No one listens to me.

Violently Overthrowing The US Government Is Popular Within The Far Right


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I monitor who looks at this Website rather obsessively. And would you believe the tag that gets some of the most traffic for this site is “Glorious American Revolution of 2021.” Obviously, people are searching for “revolution 2021?” and coming across that tag.

This, of course, is very, very dumb.

The crux of why it’s dumb for a MAGA New Right person to want a violent revolution is they’re well on their way to getting everything they want through politics. All they have to do is be patient and the United States will become an autocracy and, lulz, that’s it.

And, yet, here we are, with the MAGA New Right cocksuckers glorifying political violence even though its widespread use would likely destroy their ability to achieve their political goals.

It seems as though we’ve reached a moment in our nation’s history, similar to the late 1850s, when the momentum is not exactly on our side. All it would take is a little added pressure on our failing political system and, lulz, we could have a severe crisis.

My fear, of course, is we’ll have a civil war with states seceding from the Union, WMD will be used and before you know it the United States has so bombed itself into oblivion that a literal American Taliban will form. Though, in our case, it would based on Christian, not Islamic, theology.

And, if you think about it, all this interest in the violent overthrow of the US government would be in line with the notion that we might face an American Taliban type movement in a post-civil war era. But there’s one thing we have to accept and that is the United States is far less politically stable than maybe we are willing to admit to ourselves.

It’s very possible that because of the bloodlust on the part of the MAGA New Right that some pretty surreal things could happen to us all before it’s over with. Violence is not cool, folks!

Mo Brooks, ‘Dictatorial Socialism’ & The MAGA New Right’s Glorification Of Political Violence


by Ender

The thing about the MAGA New Right is they’re telling us exactly what their vision for America is — they see organized political violence as a viable option in their never-ending goal of “owning the libs.” Mo Brooks’ statement today that is, in essence, one of support for a would-be bomber is a prime example of this. People like Brooks are now all-in on the notion that only through violence can they “own the libs” once and for all.

When you have the entire Republican ecosystem and infrastructure focused on the specific goal of establishing a white Christian ethno state in the United States, there’s not much we can do other than hunker down for a civil war, autocracy or a military junta. They dress it up in some weird idea about being against “dictatorial socialism” but they’re just scared of the browning of America and want to make sure POC “know their place” like they used to.

In an abstract way, the solution to our problems is, of course, to destroy the Republican Party altogether. But that could only be done if it was one of several aims of a civil war. And I don’t particularly want a civil war, but the MAGA New Right sure does like talking about how they want to murder people like me for political reasons.

All of this is part of broader macro problems the United States faces. In general, we’re totally, completely, fucked. We’re doomed and the sooner we sit up and take notice on how totally fucked we are, the better.

The MAGA New Right grows more and more radical — and blaming liberals for “doing it to them” — and there’s going to come a point, probably around January 2025, when we finally reach a breaking point. People are going to get hurt at the hands of the MAGA New Right. Probably A LOT of people.

The MAGA New Right will stop at nothing to destroy the America we’ve known for the last 260 years. And, honestly, I don’t see any way to stop them at this point.

Leave the country if you can.

Regeneron And Ron DeSantis As America’s Eventual Equivalent To Putin


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

In his never-ending desire to “own the libs” Unfrozen Caveman Autocrat Governor Ron DeSantis has figured out a way to square a political circle. Instead of doing simple, basic, — but politically loaded — things like having mask mandates or vaccine mandates, he’s turning to a COVID19 treatment called Regeneron. That apparently one of DeSantis’ donors is connected to Regeneron is even better from his point of view.

America’s Future Autocrat

Given that FOX News is giving DeSantis a political reach around these days, it definitely seems as though he’s probably going to be the next president of the United States. I say this because Republicans are going to nullify any result in 2024 that they don’t like and, lulz, fuck you lib.

This leaves us with the question of how much of an autocrat DeSantis will be. It seems he will start off being just another conservative Republican and then, gradually grow more autocratic to the point that he changes the Constitution so he never has to leave office.

Generations of Americans will only know DeSantis as president, just like generations of Russians only know Putin.

Lulz, nothing matters.

Conditions Exist For A Massacre At the Kabul Airport


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The U.S. Military needs to get its shit together at the Kabul Airport. As I understand it, at the moment, the only place anyone can get out of Afghanistan is the military portion of that airport.

Ugh.

When you’re dealing with bloodthirsty theocratic maniacs, there’s only a certain amount of time before things grow even more dire than they already are. At the moment, we’re relying upon the patience of the Taliban. At some point, the Taliban is going to grow impatient and they’re going to swoop in and end this particular problem once and for all.

The question is, how long do we have? I have no idea. I do think every moment the Taliban doesn’t attack is borrowed time. All I know is, the conditions remain for a catastrophe.

Why Does The MAGA New Right Hate The State Department So Much?


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m fond of the State Department because I sure would rather things on the world stage peacefully than have to put military forces in harm’s way. And, yet, over the last few years, Republicans have done everything in their power to destroy the State Department.

A little context. This is not the first time Republicans have gone bonkers over the sages of Foggy Bottom — in the late 40s and early 50s, the Republicans were rabid dogs over the idea that the State Department was full of pinkos. We know now that, lulz, it was (to a certain extent.)

Flash forward a number of decades, and now the Republican Party wants to atomize the staff of the State Department because….what, they think they’re too woke or something? There’s a huge difference between pinkos and people simply being “woke” — whatever that means. But that doesn’t stop people like Ted Cruz from having new appointments to the State Department in a “death grip.”

Here’s what I think is happening — the Trump Department dropped a neutron bomb on the State Department by simply pushing people out through horrific management and abuse. What they couldn’t get through working within the confines of politics — a reduction the State Department’s staff — they did through brute force. So now that they have what they want, they’re simply never going to let the positions ever be filled again.

Republicans are notorious for this type of bullshit. There are three cabinet level positions they think simply shouldn’t exist. Since they can’t get rid of them playing fair and square, they now, when they have the opportunity, put the worst possible human beings to fill the positions. In fact, Trump’s first Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, was a huge advocate of eliminating the department — until he couldn’t remember it’s name in a debate!

It’s shit like this that is an indication that the next time Republicans gain power — and they will, one day — they’re unlikely to give it up peacefully. They’re going to establish an autocracy that’s it.

I’m A Man Of Peace & Ideas


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Let me be absolutely clear — I hate violence and I hate guns. I freely admit that I sometimes rant online, but my ranting is done out of frustration, or being drunk or both.

So, please, don’t get the wrong impression about me.

If you met me in person, I would NOT be quiet and I would NOT keep to myself. I’m an extreme extrovert, I wear my heart on my sleeve and generally you know what I’m thinking when I’m thinking it — even in person.

The Woke Critique Of Storytelling Enrages Me


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Here are three things that woke members of the audience are always harping on that really fucking get on my nerves. If you want to know why so much we watch and read fucking sucks, just look below.

Fridging
This is the idea, essentially, that any time a woman is murdered in story it’s a trope and there for must be eliminated. Or, you have to hold your mouth just right and get approval from Twitter Liberals before its ok to have it. I don’t know the specifics, but fuck all of this. As with all these woke criticism, this is often used by lazy people who don’t — or can’t — create anything to snipe at a story to make themselves feel better.
Manic Pixie Dream Girl
I understand where this is coming from — a lot of writers are lazy and simply use what’s floating around in their personal life to come up with characters — but too often this is invoked by people who have no talent, no vision, or are an intern at VOX who has 800 words to fill. It’s not like the average writer is fucking dating Captain Marvel.
Bechdel Test
I refuse to take seriously a story critique that was proposed in a comic. I’m going to tell the story I have to tell, fuck any fucking “test” that forces me to do this or that thing because some fucking comic came up with some half-assed metric as to what makes a good story. It should be about your characterization of your female characters, not if two of them have a conversation where they don’t talk about a man. Fuck that.

Autocracy Is Popular


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As I’ve written before, MAGA’s Big Lie argument boils down to they only see elections that they win as legitimate. And, really, what happened is this: Trump and the people in his administration got so wrapped up in the autocrat idea that they could never, ever lose power that when they did they were thrown for a loop.

So, there’s a huge chunk of the electorate that now wants an autocracy. They have broken free of any democratic norm and they have only one goal: make it so the MAGA New Right never, ever loses power again.

The natural ebb and flow of a democracy such as ours barely is, the Republican Party is going to gain power again eventually. Then they will consolidate power and that will be that. You can call that prediction “doom shit” all you like, but it’s the truth.

Our only other options are military junta or civil war.

Listening To MAGA


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

A lot of my “doom shit” comes from simply listening to what the MAGA New Right is saying and taking it both seriously and literally. If you do that, there’s no other conclusion but the United States is in a chronic, lingering severe political crisis.

If you listen to what people like Jesse “Welcome To The New Right!” Kelly say on Twitter, their movement is nothing short of an American Taliban. They want to destroy everything America stands for, enslave women and minorities, and generally turn A Handmaid’s Tale into a documentary.

Me, January 2025

I’m well aware that a lot of what they say is “own the libs” frothy bullshit, but the general gist of what they believe is no less radical than anything the Taliban would have you believe. The MAGA New Right is so absolute in its abstract fears of white Christians being “replaced” by woke soyboys that they are more than willing to burn America to the ground, rather than risk being “canceled” for being racist pieces of shit.

The MAGA New Right glorifies political violence. They have made it clear they will stop at nothing to turn the United States into a minority run autocratic white Christian ethno state. Why else do they love the autocrats in Russia, Turkey and Hungary so much? That’s the baseline of what they want to turn the United States into.

If you believe, as I do, that there’s a real risk of the United States imploding into civil war sometime between now and January 2025, then it’s even more likely that the MAGA New Right will become an American, Christian equivalent of the Taliban. The ideological underpinnings for this to happen already exist. Just mix in the use of stolen WMD on major cities, a complete collapse of our government and society and what else is going to happen but the rise of Taliban-style extremists in the United States?

But, of course, I’m making a number of huge assumptions. It’s very possible that we’ll just slip peacefully into a Russian-style autocracy without firing a shot. The media will be purged and the ICE infrastructure will be weaponized, but if you’re a Good German, your life really won’t change that much. In a sense, that would be the best case scenario for everyone involved if the other end of the spectrum is a catastrophic civil war where we bomb ourselves into the stone age because of an abstract fear over being “canceled.”