Month: July 2022

My Hot Take On Beyonce’s ‘Renaissance’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The last album I listened to that was as creative and musically stimulating as Beyonce’s Renaissance was the OutKast double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.

There’s something about the syncopation of much of Renaissance that is so unexpected that it makes you sit up and take notice. It’s really interesting to listen to.

It’s so good, in fact, that I am probably going to listen to the album obsessively for a few days (weeks?) until I get tired of it. It’s just so different than most of the crap being produced these days that it’s very emotionally and intellectually stimulating.

I have to note, as an aside, that it would be interesting if Beyonce did a throwback album that was literally like the Motown sound of the 60s. Or, even more interesting, if she did a straight pop-rock album in the style of Garbage. She’s such a versitle artist and that I doubt if her fanbase would get too upset if she did something like that out in left field.

I don’t get why The Atlantic labeled it a “big, gay mess.” I didn’t discern that from it. It just seemed really creative and interesting to me.

Anyway, Renaissance is a great, great album.

Have We Actually Seen Sigrid And Sanna Marin In The Same Room?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m not one to believe in conspiracies, but damn if Norwegian singer Sigrid doesn’t look identical to Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin. It’s spooky how much the two women look alike.

The fact that they’re both really hot is the cherry on top.

Sanna Marin
Sigrid

Probably what I’m seeing is a dominate Nordic phenotype. But damn if those two women don’t look a lot alike.

Tove Lo Is So Good

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I often say that the Swedes have a lot of soul and Tove Lo proves my point. She is so, so good. Tove Lo is very much a more pop, dance version of Peaches. At least, Tove Lo’s public persona seems about as provocative as Peaches.

Tove Lo

But the point is — I love Tove Lo.

My Spotify has hit after hit of hers. She’s jus so good. Tove Lo is probably the best dance pop rock performer out there at the moment. I really love rock, but she’s close enough to dance pop rock that I find myself listening to her obsessively.

I wish she would collab with Taylor Swift because she’s everything that Tay-Tay isn’t. Tove Lo is very comfortable in her own skin and her sexuality, while it’s easy to get the impression that Tay-Tay is still mad that she’s no longer a virgin.

Anyway, when it comes to an artist who consistently produces a banger, Tove Lo is at the top of my list.

It’s Over. Get Out.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If you have the means, I would recommend you leave the United States permanently. Or, at least begin to figure out how you’re going to do it before late 2024. America has given up on democracy, to the point that if we have any spunk left in us to defend it we’re going to have a civil war that Blues start.

But I just don’t believe we’re going to have a civil war.

The United States, one way or another, is going to become a Hungary-style autocracy. And maybe even an autocracy closer to Russia or Nazi Germany at some point in the not-so-distant future.

In short, we’re fucked.

Now, obviously, I can’t predict the future, so it’s possible something might happen that will punt this particular problem down the road. But it will just delay the existential crisis, not prevent it altogether.

There are some deep seated problems with the American political system and we’re totally, completely fucked sooner or later. Pick your poison, as they say. Republicans continue to break law after law and because we don’t have the political will to do anything about it, they get away with it.

And, soon enough, it will be conventional wisdom that the United States is no longer a democracy and, as such, at least 1 million wealthy, well educated American liberals will leave the United States altogether.

I hate the idea that the very people might be able to at least slow our slide into autocracy — Twitter liberals — are just going to give up and leave the country. And because I’m a poor fuck I’m going to be stuck holding the back and figuring out how to avoid being shot in the back of the head by an ICE agent when I get drunk and say something about President DeSantis being a fucking socksucker.

At the moment, at least, it definitely seems as though that’s my fate. It may not happen immediately after 2025 — it probably won’t — but it’s going to happen. Anyone like me who is a loudmouth crank is in danger of crossing the autocrat and ending up in a camp.

We’ve given up.

And, as such, I would suggest, if you can, to start gaming out where you’re going to live outside the United States once it’s an autocracy.

Why Would China Attack Taiwan Now?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m no expert about any of this, so all of this is very speculative. So take that into consideration when reading. This is more me just doing one of my compulsive scenarios than any sort of definitive explanation.

One minor point –the last few months I’ve been getting the occasional ping to this Webste from China. I always assumed it was people connected to Tik-Tok annoyed that I was suggesting the service could read people’s mind. But what if it was people with Chinese intelligence interested in the political state of the United States? If you are a regular reader of this site, you will know that I have painted a very dire future for the United States.

Another thing — I think we’re probably at just the very early stages of any point in time where China might strike Taiwan. It would make a lot more sense for them to wait until at some point after 2025 when America will either be Fortress America or in the middle of a civil war to do anything against their wayward sisters in the South China Sea.

And, yet, I suppose the case could be made that there’s a lot going on inside China at the moment that nobody knows about and, as such, the Chinese might attack now, rather than wait until it’s obvious the United States is falling apart. The only reason why I even have started talking about all of this is I’ve begun to hear a minor amount of chatter about troop movements in China near Taiwan. And August is essentially here as of this writing, so…bingo?

Also, I could see China thinking that Biden is so old and the United States so divided that it would be difficult for the US to have a comprehensive approach to any Sino-Taiwanese War. This particular situation would only get worse, of course if more regional conflicts went hot and an actual WW3 began.

Talk about throwing American domestic politics for a loop!

Anyway. I have no idea. But is interesting to think about.

The Guns Of August: Running The China Attacks Taiwan Scenario

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Let me be clear — I’m no expert on what’s going on between China and Taiwan these days, but I do love a good scenario. So, let’s run the scenario of what would happen if China went after Taiwan in August.

HT / The Sun

August, as you may know, sucks. So, it would make a lot of sense for China to start a war against Taiwan during the month. But the key thing to consider when approaching such a scenario is how the press would market it. If you have two major regional wars going on at the same time, it’s very easy to imagine that being marketed as “WW3” by the Western press.

That, until itself, would change the whole dynamic of the age. And, remember, the United States will face the existential choice of autocracy or civil war in late 2024, early 2025 so that would be another datapoint to consider if the two regional wars sparked an even broader conflict.

Think the Russian Empire during WW1, only this time it would be the United States being knocked out of commission by either turning into an America First autocracy or imploding into civil war.

And, what’s more, a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a much bigger war than what’s happening between Russia and Ukraine at the moment. So, it’s possible that the DPRK might look at the attack on Taiwan as their last ever chance to do something against their brothers to the south. (This is extremely speculative on my part.)

Then, of course, there’s away Iran. They have already vowed to assassinate a few high profile leaders in the US. There could be a chain reaction whereby you have WW3 — Russia V. Ukraine, Iran V. the West, China V. Taiwan and the DPRK v. ROK.

Oh, and don’t forget! There’s always the risk that India and Pakistan would want to settle some scores along the way too.

And that, my friend, would be WW3, with all the combatants being forced to pick a side. Talk about a Great Reset! The whole post-WW2 world order would collapse and we would be going to the show. There would be no narrative and we would have no idea how things would end up until the end.

May you live in interesting times…

Is It Too Late For the Center-Left To Find Its Indignant Rage Against The MAGA New Right?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As I’ve often said, we’re past the Even Horizon when it comes to the existential choice of autocracy or civil war. And, in all honesty, that event probably actually happened some time ago. And not in 2016 when dingus Trump was elected — it probably happend the moment that Obama was re-elected.

Obama’s re-election tapped into something very visceral in the dark recesses of the American psyche and, lulz, here we are. Or, if you wanted to make things even more general — once the white percentage of the population reached a certain number other than 100%, we were fucking doomed.

Of late, there have been a few outbursts of liberal progressive rage against the rise of fascism in the United States. They have — to me at least — be very effective. Something about Jon Stewart flipping the fuck out over the dickhead nature of Senate Republicans has been very cathartic.

But. It’s probably too late.

We’ve given up. The forces that are tearing our democracy apart are just too powerful now. And in late 2024, early 2025 we’re going to be faced with the final choice — civil war or autocracy. And, as I keep saying, it’s not going to be a civil war started by Reds. At this point, that’s a very comical idea.

If there’s going to be a 2ACW, its going to be started by Blue States. Anyone who suggests otherwise (in general) is a total idiot who is too busy watching the shiny thin to notice what’s really going on.

I still think our fate is autocracy. It’s going to happen with a shrug. No one within the center-Left is going to put up any sort of fight. They’re all going to be too busy fleeing the country for the south of France to do any fighting.

They’re Going To Get Away With Everything

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Things are so depressing these days on the Trumplandia front, especially when it comes to January 6th. Much like how the Weimar Republic dealt with the rise of Nazism, there just isn’t the political will to do anything about the growth of fascist cancer.

At the moment, it appears as though American democracy will come to an end sometimes around 2025. Unless, of course, there’s a National Divorce and, as such, a Second American Civil War. And despite however much MAGA is foaming at the mouth to start a civil war — it won’t be them who do it. In the extremely unlikely event of a 2ACW, it will be Blues who start it.

There is no crime that Trump or his coterie of idiots can break that they will ever be held accountable for. And, given there is a deadline of Janaury 2025 to deal with, the judicial system is just too slow to ever get around to do anything even if it was so inclined.

So, that’s it. Barring something I just can’t predict, we’re going to become a MAGA New Right themed autocracy. It’s all happening in broad daylight with our eyes wide open. We just don’t have the political will to do anything about Trump.

And the reason is two fold.

One, autocracy is so popular that we’ve kind of just given up. Too many people want to believe the lies that Trump sells and so they are willful in their desire for Trump to come back and put the finishing touches on ending American democracy via Schedule F and other ideas.

Meanwhile, the American center-Left is extremely ineffectual, divided, misguided and old (most of the time) to do anything head on to address the rise of fascism.

Put those two things together and you have a massive historical clusterfuck that may lead to more people dying than the rise of the Nazis in Germany.

All Giddy Lottery Content Is Embarrassing

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m of the opinion that the lottery is if not rigged, then every once in a while it’s subtly manipulated for effect. As such, just as we enter the dead of the year when nothing much is going on, we see that Mega Millions is around $1 billion in pay out.

This serves the purpose of giving the lottery a lot of free PR via cringe worthy media coverage that, in hindsight, is just embarrassing. And I say this as someone who occasionally buys lottery tickets for the entertainment value, if nothing else. I love to run scenarios and I’ve spend a fair amount of time the last few days daydreaming about what I would do if I won that sweet, sweet Mega Millions money.

But every time I think about waxing poetically about how I would change the world with all that money, I hold back. I’m not going to win, no matter how much I may get all excited and daydream about it. So, why the world would I want to document all those daydreams then have them recorded for eternity for me to wince at?

I will note, in passing, that if I had a cool $600 million to play with, I would change the world. I would be John Lennon in the 1970s flamboyant and conspicuous and the press wouldn’t know what to do with me.

And, yet, the chances of any of that happening are so astronomical as to be pointless to even think about — not that I don’t still run the scenario occasional in my head while I — and a few other million people — wait for the drawing. It definitely would be interesting to see people pour over my social media record. Yikes! There’s a lot there for people to “cancel” me for, I’m afraid. For all my high hopes, I’d probably just become another Ken Bone.

So, I’m going to at least try to put my head down and work on my novel.

2022’s Nadir

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We’ve officially entered the nadir of the year when disasters usually strike in a big way. Every year about this time, the entire Western world kind of grinds to a halt. The wealthy are on vacation, leaving interns to run the newsrooms of the world.

And as I write often — August sucks.

The last few days, I have been feeling a disturbance in the Force. I feel like Something Big is going to happen soon. I don’t know if this Big Thing will be personal or if it will be something that happens in the world at large. But I’m on edge. I feel like an existential sand wedgie.

As of right now, of course, it seems like this is all in my head — nothing is going to happen. And, to be honest, while I did feel a similar unease in the days leading up to breaking my ankle, I don’t believe in such things and it was just co-incidence, not any sort of premonition.

I do find myself feeling a little on edge just in general. I need to get something, anything done before I drop dead. I’m doing quite well with the first of six novels I’m developing and writing — but it takes time to do it. Time I’m growing more and more concerned that I may not have.