done and dusted

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A few days ago I mentioned I was actually busy, that I’d found myself in “one of those rare instances when I’m working under a deadline.” Some folks wondered about that deadline business. Allow me to splain.

Twelve days ago (on Tuesday the 3rd) I noticed a post on Bluesky (which, by the way, is by far the most engaging and positive (and frequently very weird) social media platform I’ve ever encountered) stating that Uncanny Magazine had opened submissions for short fiction. Uncanny has been publishing science fiction and fantasy fiction for about a decade. The magazine itself and the fiction it’s published have won numerous awards. Uncanny has published short fiction and novellas by a LOT of the big hats in the SFF biz.

I don’t write science fiction or fantasy. I write detective/crime stuff. I’ve always read SFF, and I’ve occasionally banged out some ideas for SFF novels, but I’ve never followed through. So when I saw the post about open submissions, I said to myself, “Greg, old sock, why not give it a shot?”

The obvious response was, “I’ll tell you why not. First, you’ve never written SFF in your entire semi-wicked life. Second, you’ve got less than two weeks to come up with an idea and write a short story, which is another thing you’ve never done. Third, there are a million other things you actually WANT to do instead of sitting alone in a quiet room making shit up. It’s October, for fuck’s sake, and you’ll want to ride your bike and see people and go on long drives to look at autumn foliage. Fourth and finally, let me repeat that you’ll only have two weeks to write a story in a genre you’ve never written and it’s the best two weeks of autumn, you massive idiot.”

So I decided to write a story and submit it.

Which is exactly what I did.

Finished it last night, formatted it this morning, just submitted it moments ago. About 9500 words in eleven days. It doesn’t sound like a lot. Less than a thousand words a day. But that includes coming up with the idea, envisioning the story world, populating it with believable (I hope) characters, ensuring the plot holds together, arranging the scenes, and putting all those words in a row. I’ve never written an entire short story, nose to tail, in such a short period of time.

I have absolutely no idea if it’s any good. I mean, I was satisfied enough with the story that I submitted it, but Jesus suffering fuck, 12 days? And, of course, the fact that I’m satisfied with it doesn’t mean a damned thing. The folks who’ll send you the contract and cut the check, they’ve got to be satisfied…and who knows what they’ll do?

But THIS is the part of the writing gig I’m really very good at: letting go. Most writers I know tend to fret about the stories they’ve submitted. Me, once I submit a story for publication, I basically forget it…until I get an acceptance or a rejection. Out of sight, out of mind. Done and dusted.

Which may be good for my mental health, but is a terrible business practice. Because if a story gets rejected by one publisher, you may want to submit it to another. This actually almost happened to me last year. I’d submitted a story to Alfred Hitchcock’s magazine and immediately forgot about it. Well, I forgot about it until I was ready to submit another story to different magazine. Then I remembered, “Hey, dude, it’s been maybe 3-4 months and you haven’t heard about the other story; that ain’t right.” So I sent an email saying ‘Don’t want to make a fuss, but if you’re not going to accept the story, let me know so I can sell it elsewhere.’ The magazine responded with a contract. That story eventually won an Edgar award. Go figure publishers.

Anyway, the story is written. It’s been submitted. And I feel liberated. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go for a bike ride.

it’s the same coin

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I’m almost never busy. I don’t live a busy life. But this is one of those rare instances when I’m working under a deadline. So of course RIGHT NOW there’s a LOT of really awful and really interesting and really important stuff happening everywhere. Stuff I’d ordinarily be writing about because, as you know, I have thoughts about things.

The most awful thing is the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians. No matter how much a person might support the rights of Palestinians, no matter how much a person might despise the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government, no matter how much a person might understand the frustration and anger and boiling hatred Palestinians may feel toward Israeli policies, there’s absolutely no possible justification for an attack designed to slaughter civilians. And there’s no possible reason to celebrate such an attack.

But this is why terrorism exists, and why it works. Oppressed people strike out–not directly against the government that oppresses them, because they don’t have the military power to harm the government. They strike where they can do the most damage, and they do it KNOWING it will result in two things: 1) outrage against them and their cause, and 2) a massively one-sided retaliation. The retaliation always reveals the social and political conditions that sparked the terrorism.

Right now people are talking about Gaza. Right now, a lot of people are gleeful about the demolition of Gaza, because ‘they’ deserve it. But many people are also hearing for the first time Gaza referred to as ‘the world’s largest open-air prison.’ We’re seeing in the starkest possible light, the people who allow their anger and resentment to turn to brutality–the terrorists and the retaliators.

And because I’ve said This is why terrorism exists and why it works, some people will argue that I’m validating the attack by Hamas. So let me repeat this: There’s absolutely no possible justification for an attack designed to slaughter civilians and there’s no possible reason to celebrate such an attack. I could also say–and it would be equally true–that brutal oppression works. We’ve seen that in totalitarian regimes throughout history. That’s not a justification of brutality.

Brutality works for the brutal, terrorism works for the terrorists, racism works for the racists, patriarchy works for men, cruelty works for the cruel, selfishness works for the selfish. In all cases, ordinary decent people are the ones who suffer.

This is all deeply ugly. So it’s important to remember this: the Israeli government doesn’t represent all Jews. It’s important to remember this: Hamas doesn’t represent all Palestinians. It’s critically important to understand that oppression and terrorism the opposite sides of the same coin.

EDITORIAL NOTE: We must burn the patriarchy. If you’re wondering what the patriarchy has to do with the situation in Israel and Gaza, then you don’t really grasp the extent to which patriarchy infects culture. We need to burn it to the ground, gather the ashes, piss on them, douse them in oil and set them on fire again. Burn it and keep burning it, over and over. Burn it for generations. Then nuke it from orbit. Then have tea and cookies.

bus ain’t going nowhere

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There’s an article in the Politics section of this morning’s WaPo entitled Moderates could unite amid House speaker chaos. Why don’t they? The piece quotes Dan Lipinski–a conservative Democrat and former representative from Illinois–suggesting that Democrats ‘missed the opportunity to work with Republicans this week.’

This may explain why Dan Lipinski is a former representative. Republicans are actively refusing to work with Democrats. The article actually includes the answer to the question it asks; it says, GOP leaders “have so far indicated that they plan to win the job by appealing to Republicans alone.” The ‘Takes 2 to Tango’ rule applies here.

Some folks will say there are no moderate Republicans anymore. I think that’s incorrect. I think there are Republicans who’d like to be moderate, but are afraid of ‘the crazies.’ Which, in my opinion, makes them situational crazies. It also makes them cowards. As Ken Kesey said, you’re either on the bus or you’re off the bus.

Kevin McCarthy was so desperate to be the Bus Driver that he willingly handed the keys to the bus to ‘the crazies.’ Worse than that, KM made them Bus Monitors. He let them decide on the Bus Route. He allowed them to keep one hand on the steering wheel and one foot on the accelerator. And if that wasn’t enough, he gave them the authority to dismiss him as the Bus Driver if they were unhappy.

Here’s the thing about ‘the crazies’ — they’re NEVER going to be happy. Never. That’s what makes them ‘the crazies.’ for fuck’s sake.

Bus ain’t going nowhere until it gets fixed.

So here we are. The bus is parked on the side of the road. Republicans don’t want Democrats to help pick a new Bus Driver. (This is how crazy ‘the crazies’ are: the bull goose crazy, Matt Gaetz, needed the cooperation of Democrats to boot KM out of the driver’s seat for the crime of cooperating with Democrats.) To get a new Bus Driver, the non-crazy, so-called moderates think they need the cooperation of ‘the crazies’. That’s just fucking crazy.

There are 433 members of the House. 221 are Republicans, 212 are Democrats. There are no more than a dozen of what are considered ‘the crazies.’ All it would take to hire a new Bus Driver is for a handful of ‘not crazy’ Republicans to nominate somebody who is NOT actively crazy, somebody who doesn’t absolutely reject the notion of negotiating with Democrats, somebody who believes in democracy. Somebody who actually wants the bus to go forward.

It’s really pretty simple. But it’s out of the hands of the Democrats. Republicans own the bus at the moment.

Will it happen? Will the GOP actually nominate somebody who’ll get at least some minimal Democratic support?

Yeah, it will. I mean, it has to. It may take a while. But if the bus is ever going to go back into service, the GOP has to be willing to pry the keys out of the hands of ‘the crazies.’ Democrats can help, but Republicans have to tackle the bastards first.

monday monday

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It’s the first Monday in October, which means the Supreme Court of the United States is back in session. Although it’s not officially on their agenda, SCOTUS-watchers (which, I just want to say, aren’t nearly as cool as the Watchers that kept track of Highlander immortals or Buffy-era Slayers–now those folks had style) say the Court has to wrestle with this crisis-level problem: How to convince the public that the justices take seriously their ethical obligations.

The answer to which, of course, is completely fucking obvious. SCOTUS needs to actually take their ethical obligations seriously. Not just try to convince the public they’re doing that; they actually need to DO that. But that would mean chucking Clarence Thomas out on his ass. And probably Sam Alito too. And maybe finally investigate where their boy Brett K got the coin to pay off all his debts before his SCOTUS nomination process. So yeah, ain’t gonna happen.

But at least the government is still operating. Well, operating after a fashion. I mean, most of us expected to see Congress implode and a whole lot of government functions to stop this morning. Why? Because a dozen or so Republicans are acting like monkeys trying to fuck beach balls. The monkeyfucking cadre has even annoyed some of the less rabid Republicans. Don Bacon of Nebraska said, “We’re tired of fucking around with these whack jobs.”

We all are, Don. We’re all tired of them.

The fact that Congress managed to avoid stepping on a rake is seen as a sort of victory, although it’s not clear for whom. I mean, we’ll have to go through this same bullshit again in a couple of months. It’s not a victory for Kevin McCarthy, who is now solidly in the cross hairs of the monkeyfucking cadre. Matt Gaetz (Jesus suffering fuck, I still can’t believe this bouffant fuckwit is actually a sitting Member of Congress) has said publicly that nobody trusts McCarthy. Gaetz says he intends to press a Congressional motion to boot McCarthy directly in the balls (well, remove him from the Speaker’s position, which is much the same thing).

What’s interesting, though, is the anti-monkeyfuckers are murmuring about possibly expelling Gaetz IF he follows through on his attempt to kick McCarthy in the balls and IF the ongoing Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz (for being corrupt and doing drugs and getting horizontal with underage girls) finds he probably did all the awful shit everybody thinks he did. One anonymous Republican is reported (by FOX News, if that matters) as saying this about Gaetz: “No one can stand him at this point. A smart guy without morals.”

Nobody trusts McCarthy, nobody can stand Gaetz, and neither of them has any morals at all.

“You let me be Speaker of the House and I’ll supply you with beach balls.”

Speaking of somebody without morals who nobody can stand, Comrade Trump’s civil fraud trial begins today in New York City. It’s a bench trial rather than a jury trial, so it should be wrapped up pretty quickly. I mean, the judge has already ruled that the Trump Organization deffo committed fraud. He also revoked Trump’s New York business licenses, which will likely mean Trump will lose control over dozens of New York properties. Essentially, the trial is to determine how big a fine Trump will pay. The prosecutor is asking for US$250 million. A quarter of a billion here, a quarter of a billion there…it adds up..

By the way, Trump says he’ll testify if called. Yeah, I’m just going to leave that there.

So it’s going to be an ugly few weeks for Republicans. And rightly so. You know, among all the truly awful things the GOP has done in the last couple of decades, one of the worst things is they’ve changed us. By ‘us’ I basically mean people who prefer to be kind and considerate to other folks, even if we disagree with them. People who didn’t take pleasure in seeing other people suffer. The GOP has changed us into people who viscerally enjoy watching MAGA Republicans go at each other like rabid sewer rats.

I don’t like this about myself, but I WANT to see the GOP destroyed. I WANT to see McCarthy lose his Speaker position, I WANT to see Gaetz expelled from the Republican Party, I WANT to see Comrade Trump lose his businesses and his money and his freedom. I WANT to see him convicted and imprisoned. I don’t just want those things to happen; I want to WITNESS them. I want to see them humiliated, afraid, defeated, and lost.

I don’t like that about myself, but there it is. I’ve let those monkeyfuckers change me. I’ll never forgive them for that.

yeah, uncle joe biden is old

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I had to check with Wikipedia to see how old he is. He’s 80. He’ll turn 81 in November. That’s pretty fucking old. Does it matter? Well, yeah, it kinda does. Does it matter enough to change how I’ll vote? Nofuckingway.

Is he in good health? According to his doctors (and at least Uncle Joe has real doctors, not some fluffer in a white lab coat like Comrade Trump), he’s “in good physical and mental shape relative to his years.” That’s…well, not entirely encouraging, but still somewhat comforting. I mean, the guy still rides a bike. That requires lower body strength, balance, hand-eye coordination, responsive reflexes, bilateral coordination, and postural strength. Sure, he’s not going to make the Olympic cycling squad, but he can get on a bike and crank out a few miles. That’s pretty damned good for an 80-year-old guy.

Okay, he’s also fallen on his bike. But let’s be honest about that. He fell when he was dismounting; caught his leg on the crossbar. Almost every person who’s ever ridden a bicycle with a crossbar has done that. I’m younger than Uncle Joe and I ride a step-through bike because I’ve done that too often. I’m not as flexible as I used to be.

But the ability to ride (and successfully dismount) a bike doesn’t directly translate to running the entire government of the United States. That take a certain amount of mental acuity and political savvy. Uncle Joe probably isn’t as sharp as he was when he was Vice President, but he’s still as politically savvy. He’s accomplished a hell of a lot since he was elected, and he’s done it without much drama (and without much public recognition). He’s still got great political instincts. He still travels the world and gets stuff done.

But yeah, he’s old. And he’ll be even older when/if he’s re-elected. But so what? It’s stupid to compare Uncle Joe against some ideal Democratic candidate. We have to compare him to his opponent. Which is almost certainly going to be Comrade Donald Trump. The guy who thinks he ‘aced’ a mental acuity examination because he was able to repeat man, woman, person, camera, TV. The guy who needed two hands to drink from a bottle of water. The guy who saluted a North Korean general, wanted to buy Greenland, and thought it might be a good idea to nuke a hurricane.

Since we acknowledge that Uncle Joe is old, let’s go ahead and say the ‘unthinkable’ thing we’re all thinking about. What if he gets elected but then goes toes up before the end of his term? That would be bad. But hey, Kamala Harris is perfectly competent to take over. I mean, that’s the whole reason to have a Vice-President, isn’t it. I’d be happy and feel secure with President Harris running the government.

So yeah, once again, Joe Biden is old, but he’s moderately fit and he’s very politically astute, plus he’s got Kamala insurance in case something unfortunate happens. Donald Trump, on the other hand, is a dumbfuck who…oh hell, dumbfuck ought to be enough. Seriously, the Democrats should run adverts saying Vote for the Old Guy; Don’t Vote for the Dumbfuck.

the answer is: buffy & veronica

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“Name a television show that changed you.” That sort of question gets asked all the time in social media, mainly by folks who want to generate some discussion. I generally ignore those questions. I thought I’d ignored that one too, when it came up a few days ago. But apparently I didn’t, because I’ve been thinking about it at odd moments when my brain isn’t occupied with other bullshit.

And hey, after a few days of episodic thought, I came up with two shows that…wait. You know, the whole notion of a television show actually changing somebody seems ridiculous. On the other hand the notion of a book changing somebody seems (to me, at any rate) perfectly reasonable. But I don’t know…I mean, they’re both narrative forms and only an idiot would deny the power of a narrative. So, okay, there’s no reason a television show/series can’t have a powerful effect on somebody. Whatever point I was going to make at the beginning of this paragraph is clearly bullshit. So never mind. Let me try that again.

After a few days of episodic thought, I came up with two shows that have had a profound effect on me. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars. The former is about a high school girl who becomes the Chosen One whose purpose in the world is to kill vampires and demons and general ‘forces of darkness,’ which (as Buffy says) is a job of work for a high school kid. The latter is about a high school girl who becomes a private detective, solving crimes and helping innocent (and semi-innocent) people.

“I’m telling you, having a secret identity in this town is a job of work.”

Yeah, I know, the premise of each of those shows is absurd. Also yeah, I know, some of you may be saying to yourself, “A guy who watches girl hero television shows? What’s with that?” My response to that is a) hey, they’re really good shows and b) grow the fuck up.

Here’s the thing. Yeah, Buffy and Veronica are high school girls (at the beginning of each series) who are tough and snarky, who defend ordinary folks against bad folks, and who have to deal with gender and high school issues while also dealing with much larger problems. But what makes them singularly influential (to me, at least) is that they’ve both been through a world of shit and they’ve adapted to that by no longer caring very much what other folks think about them. They’re aware of peer pressure, and it still carries much of the gravitational pull that influences most of their peers. But they’ve each found the strength to shrug off that gravity and deal with the world they live in on their own terms.

“Why can’t the evil just get jobs like the rest of us?”

But that comes with a cost. They each suffer the isolation and alienation that comes with being different. They each learn to assemble a cohort that serves as a sort of family or support group. And then they’ve each learned that in some/many ways, they’re also isolated and alienated from that cohort. And as painful as that is, they continue to cope and occasionally to actually thrive.

Another thing about those shows: they each include a father figure who is realistically complex. Buffy has Giles, her Watcher; Veronica has…well, her dad. They try to help; they try to protect; they try to NOT interfere too much, and they routinely fuck up. Realistically fuck up. Because they’re conflicted; society suggests they should behave in a specific male parent way that generally interferes with the agency of their children BUT they also want to encourage their children to be their true selves. Anthony Head and Enrico Colantoni manage to bungle their parental responsibilities without completely destroying the trust of their kids. Their relationships are often painful, but always sort of beautiful.

So yeah, those two television shows were massively influential to me. The fact that Buffy and Veronica struggle against vampires or criminal sociopaths is sort of irrelevant. What matters is they mostly hold onto their personal integrity in a world that seems almost designed to destroy it. What matters is Buffy and Veronica build a mostly workable relationship with their own selves. If that makes sense.

Buffy Summers and Veronica Mars offered lessons in how to hold onto your true self when the world around you tried relentlessly to disrupt that. They gave good television.

THE USUAL EDITORIAL COMMENT: Yeah, the patriarchy. Got to incinerate it. Stake it to the ground, douse it with an accelerant, light it up. Burn it to ashes, bury the ashes, piss on the the burial site, then salt the earth above it so that nothing will ever grow there again. Then have a glass of wine. I recommend a Gewürztraminer.

trump road

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So, we’re all asking the same question: what happens when this arrogant, mendacious, belligerent, reckless sonofabitch violates his…wait. I’m getting ahead of myself.

I’m talking about Comrade Donald J. Trump, of course. On Thursday, he’ll be arrested for the fourth time. But this time it’s different. It’s different because this time it’s a state case–a case brought against him by the State of Georgia. All the other arrests have been for federal crimes–crimes against the United States of America. It’s also different because this time Trump won’t be released on his own recognizance. This time he’ll have to post bail before he can walk out the door. Cash bail is a tool used to make sure the defendant will show up for trial. Trump’s bail has been set at US$200,000.

Of course, he’ll only have to post 10% of that amount. But even if he posted the full amount, it’s not nearly enough to ensure he’ll show up for trial. Two hundred grand is chump change to Trump. The money is pretty much irrelevant.

But here’s the thing about bail: it has conditions. If the defendant violates those conditions, bail can be revoked. If bail is revoked, the state not only gets to collect and keep the amount of the bail, the defendant (usually) loses his freedom. He goes to jail to await trial.

One of the conditions for Trump’s release is:

The Defendant shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice.

The bail agreement gets pretty specific about this. It states Trump shall “make no direct or indirect threat of any nature” against any codefendant, against any witness, against any victim, or against the community or to any property in the community. These direct/indirect threats include:

…posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.

We all know Trump will almost certainly violate this agreement. We all know he’s got the impulse control of a spoiled five-year-old. We also all know he believes he can violate the agreement and get away with it. He’s already lying about the conditions of his bail, and it hasn’t even been imposed yet. We all know Trump will push it as far as he can. If he gets away with it, he’ll push more. If he doesn’t get away with it, he’ll claim he’s a victim of persecution.

Which brings me back to my original question. What happens when this arrogant, mendacious, belligerent, reckless sonofabitch violates his bail? And yeah, it’s a question of when, not if. Will he get a warning? How many warnings will he get (because we all know he’ll ignore any warning)? Will he be put under house arrest? Will his access to social media be curtailed? If so, will the same social media restrictions be placed on his lawyers? Or will his lawyers be able to post what Trump wants them to say on social media? Will Trump get his ass tossed in jail to await trial?

I have to admit, I don’t have a fucking clue what’s going to happen. I know what would happen to anybody else in that situation. But Trump has proven time after time that he’s NOT anybody else. And, to be fair (I fucking HATE being fair to Trump), he’s right. He’s NOT just anybody. He’s a former President of the United States. AND he’s a candidate for that office again.

The judge, Tanya Chutkan, has said, “[T]he existence of a political campaign is not going to have any bearing on my decision other than, you know, any other lawyer coming before me saying that my client needs to be able to do his job.” That’s like a shopkeeper in Pompeii saying, “Mount Vesuvius isn’t going to have any bearing on my decision to open up my vegetable market.” It’s nice in theory, but in practice…? Well. we’ll see.

Judge Chutkan will formally set bail on Thursday. We should know by mid-day Monday how she’ll respond to Trump violating the agreement. Whatever takes place, we can be sure it’ll make everything worse. That’s what happens when you travel down Trump Road.

better than trump

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There are days when I’ll do almost anything to avoid doing the stuff I know I should be doing. I’m telling you this to explain why I decided to once again visit the fever swamps of FreeRepublic. I used to do this once a week in order to have some idea what current topic had enraged extreme right-wing nutjobs. Over time, however, I found it increasingly difficult to stomach the irrational hate. Now I peek in on FreeRepublic many once a month. Maybe.

This morning there was a lot of…oh, let’s call it ‘discussion’ about an editorial in the NY Post. The editorial (and no, I’m not going to provide a link to it) was entitled:

Biden is a disaster — which is why we need someone better than Trump to beat him.

I figured that whole ‘someone better than Trump’ bit would get a lot of Freep readers up on their hind legs. And I was right. Here’s a representative sample of comments:

  • Trump or no one.
    by kenmcg
  • If Trump isn’t the nominee, there is no GOP.
    by anton
  • “January 6 was a national travesty…”
    No, it wasn’t. It was just a start on righting the egregious theft of an election.
    by Fester Chugabrew
  • I’ll write in Trump if I have to. No one else.
    by ClearCase_guy
  • Trump neither tried to overturn the stolen election nor did he take any classified documents.
    by escapefromboston
  • January 6 was a national travesty, and [Trump] is to blame for it.
    What happened at the capitol on Jan 6 was orchestrated and executed by the leftist deep-state FBI. The only thing Trump has to do with it is that deep state idiots like you are trying to blame him.
    by nagant
  • I am not voting Republican.
    I am voting Trump.
    by aMorePerfectUnion
  • “Trump tried to overturn an election” – what BS. The election was STOLEN from him…Biden overturned an election and got away with it with help from people like Murdoch,
    “He took classified documents”. Do they really think we’re so uneducated that we don’t know about the Presidential Records Act and the fact that Trump along with previous POTUS as well as FJB, and apparently even Pence kept records – the last 2 who weren’t even POTUS?
    What a bunch of CRAP!
    by Aria
  • Such ignorance. If there were one better than Trump, Trump would not be leading the field.
    by Lou Foxwell
  • EVIL women will vote to KILL MORE BABIES BEFORE they would vote for someone who will make it cheaper to feed the ones they don’t kill!
    by Ann Archy
  • Other than DJT Repubs want to act nice and follow the rules. We need to Annihilate the dems. The are worthy of the death they want to impose on others.
    by Singermom
  • I’ll just write Trump in, go Independent or just stay home.
    I long since have had it these lying phony Republicans and their fraudulent charade. They’ve hoodwinked millions.
    And whatever happens, when the Trump era comes to an end, so will the Republican party.
    by dragnet2
(Illustration by Émile-Antoine Bayard)

These people have drunk deep from the Trump potion; they’ve become spider-brained. They are somehow convinced–absolutely certain–that everybody but Trump is corrupt. They are completely confident that the only thing keeping Trump from being a phenomenally successful president is a global conspiracy involving every national and international security agency, all of whom are coordinating to…do something…in order to prevent Trump from…also something.

But I’m inclined to agree with dragnet2. When the Trump era ends, so will the Republican Party. In fact, I’m inclined to argue there IS NO Republican Party anymore, and hasn’t been since Trump was first nominated to run for president. There is no general ideological center; no commonly agreed-upon political principle, no unifying doctrine. There is only Trump.

Editorial Note: A reminder that we need to destroy the patriarchy. Smash it into a thousand pieces, then gather those pieces and set them on fire. Sweep up the ashes, dump them in a pit, piss on them, then bury it all. Cover the pit with asphalt, cover the asphalt with concrete, on which we should build a library. A privately-owned library that’s open to the entire public, so nobody can ban any books. A library with a coffee shop.