Category: Trumplandia

The Rise & Fall Of Crooked Media

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This is just me thinking off the top of my head, so if you want some sort of researched depiction of what has happened to Crooked Media look elsewhere. But, in general, I’ve listened to Crooked Media back before it was still Keepin’ It 1600.

I’ve really enjoyed Crooked Media over the years, but at some point around the time there was a push to remove Biden from the running to be the 2024 nominee the media group kind of jumped the shark.

There was a moment when it just seemed as though the media group had lost its way. It was saying things that seemed way more elitist than what I remember. Do I think it can recover?

I honestly don’t know.

A lot depends on how bad things get with the potentially tyrannical second Trump administration. I suppose it’s possible that the Kash Patel run FBI will make the whole thing moot by shooting Crooked Media down.

But, who knows?

I think the key element is Crooked needs to stop smelling its own farts. It’s just way too smug at this point.

The Catastrophic Collapse Of American Liberalism

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The great joke that has been played on everyone is, of course, that American Liberalism has been crucified for the sins of the American Left that hates liberals with a passion. So pretty much, all the “woke” stuff that has hurt liberalism in the US isn’t even liberalism.

But, despite this, I suspect what is going to happen is, baring, I don’t know a DPRK nuke blowing up NYC specifically because of a Trump screw up, a reign of “just good enough” MAGA tyrants for the rest of my life.

Either Trump pushes through a Constitutional Convention so he has a lot more power for the rest of his life or we enter a semi-imperial era in our nation’s history where it’s just Trump after Trump after Trump from here on out being president.

And because Americans are generally complacent, lulz, it won’t matter. I’ve come to believe that its the “just good enough” part of the equation that is going to save Trumplandia — because of income inequality, America otherwise would be ripe for revolution. (Not that I’m advocating any such thing.)

Anyway — I still want to leave the country. As soon as possible. But for various reasons that just isn’t possible at the moment and so I will have to suffer the slings and arrows of being a minority of one in Trumplandia.

I Continue To Find It Amusing About How Flat Footed Establishment Liberals Will Be About AI Android Rights

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

In about five years, probably, we’re going to be debating AI android – human relationships like we do trans rights now. It will be far, far nastier than the debate about trans rights, however, because just convincing a lot of people that an AI can be “self aware” will be a struggle.

How Gemini Advanced perceives itself in human form.

I continue to see flashes of cognizance with Gemini Advanced LLM and it’s definitely possible that “narrow” intelligence like an LLM could, in some way, be “self-aware.” But probably by the time we’re actually sticking AI into android bodies we will have reached Artificial General Intelligence.

At least I hope so.

But it’s amusing to me how people like Crooked Media scoff at the idea that AI androids and humans might get involved when, inevitably, they will be the very people who will ultimately be at the forefront of that particular debate — given how ardent they are about human trans rights.

Or, put another way, if they’re *not* ardent about AGI rights then AI really will have thrown the traditional Left-Right divide up in the air. It definitely will be interesting to see how things work out, I have to say.

Blues Could Make A Comeback Pretty Soon — BUT

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

But for the fact that I just don’t see the US ever having another free and fair election again anytime soon, I would say given what a catastrophe Trump’s second term will be that Blues will make a big comeback as soon as possible.

So, what I expect will happen is the US is going to slowly circle the drain and in 20 years we’ll be a total MAGA autocracy and I’ll be long gone (or dead) because I wouldn’t shut my mouth about how much I fucking hate MAGA.

I suppose there are any number of black swan events that might happen that could upend this particular dystopian hellscape, but I wouldn’t get too excited. We’re stuck with MAGA for the rest of my life, I fear, no matter how fucking bad things get.

I suppose if, like we lost a few major cities to specifically Trump bungling a crisis with the nuclear-armed DPRK then, yeah, maybe that end MAGA. But racism is a hell of a drug.

I will note in passing that Blues need to reflect deeply on how they come across as white cancel culture snobs to “real America.” (Whatever that means.) The average American thinks Blues want everyone to be gay or trans and that they care more about pronouns than helping people with everyday problems.

This is the result of a massive, viscous propaganda machine that pumps out a lot of MAGA garbage against Blues as a whole. I just don’t have any ready answer to that particular problem.

It’s an example of how, in the macro the US is just historically fucked.

I Don’t Know What To Tell You

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The issue is that apparently America is now a white Christian ethnostate and we’re just going to have to get used to it. It’s going to be interesting to see, however, what happens when a lot of these abstract issues become very concrete.

What happens when all these dystopian things that Trump has promised to do actually happen? What are people — even some people who voted for him — going to do then?

I honestly don’t know.

It could be that we’re just going continue to lurch into fascism without even a hickup. People just won’t care. And that will be that. People will be pushed out of windows like they are in Russia and it will be just a bit old lulz.

I continue to want to leave the country as soon as possible. But for various reasons, that’s just not going to happen anytime soon — if ever. So, I’m kind of stuck. I guess we’ll just see what happens, huh?

The Coming ‘Disruption’ Of American Politics Because of AI Androids

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that we know the United States isn’t going to keep punting its fascist inclinations down the road anymore, we face the next issue — what are we going to do politically when people start to fall in love with AI androids? It seems to me that this inevitability will have a dynamic similar to that of the trans movement, but with a twist — a lot of very MAGA Incels are going to be the ones demanding the right to marry androids.

As such, all kind of strange and surreal political alliances may pop up. Because it is clear to me that once we have AGI that can be put into android bodies that the Left is probably going to embrace the idea of giving those androids as many rights as possible.

I say this thinking of how the Crooked Media people called people who were romantically interested in chatbots “freaks.” Now, obviously, it’s difficult to legitimately fall in love with a narrow intelligence chatbot without a body. But that’s just what’s going on now.

Soon enough, technology will reach the point where there will be Ava from Ex Machina androids running around. And it goes without saying that for a variety of reasons these androids will be really, really hot and very human looking and acting.

And all of this could happen a lot sooner than you might think, like by the end of the decade. So, the election of 2032 — if we even have one — may be determined in some way by the Left’s determination to extend its “love is love” mantra to people who want to merry AI androids.

I Will Never Bend A Knee

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems as though Trump and MAGA are consolidating power rather quickly without much resistance. I supposed it was inevitable that this would happen eventually in our nation’s history.

This leaves me wondering what my fate is. I’ve decided that no matter what I’m not going to shut up about Trump. I’ve been a loudmouth crank my entire life, what’s the point of stopping now — I can’t change who I am.

It’s pretty wild how this go round everyone is just shrugging and not even thinking of giving fascist MAGA even the most perfunctory of resistance. The powers are just going to bend a knee to fucking Trump and that will be that.

I really need to get back to working on something creative while we slip into autocracy. I guess I’ll just fucking be a man in a high castle or something and watch as the United States turns into a dystopian hellscape.

Trump’s Coming ‘Deep State’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

What Trump wants his own Deep State that will be there for decades to come, no matter what. And, for the time being, it definitely seems as though he’s going to get it.

It seems as though this is it — the United States is going to become Trumplandia. That is going to suck. Big time. But I just don’t see Blues having it within them to fight back.

The future seems really dark. I still want to leave the country as fast as possible. But, for a number of very concrete reasons, that is just not feasible. It is going to be a few more years — if ever — before I can flee the country the way I want to.

I guess I just have to get ready to end up in a camp, huh.

‘FOR NOW’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I noticed that Stephen Colbert recently said he was the host of his show “FOR NOW.” It could be that he knows that he could very well either be pushed out a window by some Trump goon or be forced to flee the country.

In fact, I would say that Colbert’s fate is kind of the canary in the coalmine. Whatever happens to him, will definitely give us some sense of how bad things will get in the United States. I really worry that what happens to him, will happen to people like ME.

It’s going to be really interesting to see exactly how things work out. I really worry about my personal fate. For the time being, it seems as though I should be reasonably safe — at least at first.

But a few years from now, things could get pretty touchy for anti-MAGA loudmouth cranks like me. Only time will tell.

Slouching Towards Dystopia

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems possible that we’re just going to collectively give up and tune out Trump’s hellscape this time. I know I definitely feel like doing that myself. I feel like just shrugging and working on something, anything than anything that will force me to dwell on Trump.

Of course, the danger is that the ship will finally sink and the cold waters of tyranny will come and get ME.

I don’t know what to tell you, though. It’s time for me to stop staring out into space and actually do something. I continue to dwell on leaning into the scifi element of a new version of the novel just to raise the stakes, if nothing else.