Month: September 2025

He was GamerGate made flesh.

Anyone who graduated from high school and went straight into right-wing politics in 2012 is a pure product of the Obama/Call of Duty/4chan era of shouted slurs, Nazi trolling and nihilism for the lulz. That was his world and that’s exactly what he wanted for ours. There’s a reason all the effusive tributes from the worst people in America don’t actually include clips or quotes.

He was definitely useful, inasmuch as he was a divining rod for people who think debate is an objective rather than a tool. Some things are not up for debate, like the humanity of trans folk or the intellectual capability of women of color. The Republican Party which ran like Hell from David Duke in 1991 is washing the balls of his dead heir in 2025, and that’s pretty much all you need to know about the trajectory of this country in the 21st century.

Bad things happen to bad people and it doesn’t make them good people. Nobody deserves to be shot at a distance, nobody deserves to be orphaned before you’re too young for school, nobody deserves to die for their political opinions. But to act like this is somehow a loss for American political culture, for “free speech”, for anyone but his loved ones is not only risible in the extreme, but an insult to all those who gave their lives pushing back against his kind for decades in my native territory.

It’s one more lump of shit to throw onto the bonfire of America, as three-fifths of the country shrugs off the things that outraged them four or five years ago when they falsely claimed to see them coming from the other side. It wouldn’t do a lick of good if we reversed the outcome of the 2024 election tomorrow – there are too many people who are just fine with all this for me to have any hope of seeing it repaired before I die.

Because it’s gonna take a lot longer than 34 years to get back to when Republicans ran and hid from associating with Klansmen instead of worshipping them.

Hard to believe it was 19 years ago today I started this blog. I didn’t realize how good I had it. I had a job with an office, we were in pretty good health, the world hadn’t gone to Hell, neither had my family (really), social media as we know it didn’t exist…those were the days. Not that there haven’t been improvements along the way, I like having an EV. I like this neighborhood (even if a light rail would not be amiss). It’s nice making the money we make now, although the expenses have grown to match.

But the world has gone to shit. We saw it coming years ago, decades even. We allowed the old norms to go away. Equality, noblesse oblige, mind your own damn business – all shot to hell. Billionaires were allowed to accumulate and use unlimited wealth however they liked, shame ceased to be a reason to withdraw from public life, consequences ceased to exist. We are where we are because of a steady drumbeat of press in thrall to Murc’s Law and a 21st century in which we were taught to treat politics as a reality show rather than the decision making process for society. 

And the problem is, every time we started to pull back from the abyss, we didn’t hold anyone to account. Pointless war in the Middle East? Ehhh. Failure to meet the challenges of a pandemic? Whatever. Actual insurrection to attempt to overthrow the result of a democratic election followed by criminal misconduct after? It would be political to prosecute. Zero accountability. Zero contrition. And now, matters are worse.

I could almost deal with it, if I had the ability to keep working from home and the assurance we could stay in this house…or alternately, the ability to retire and call it a day. But neither is on the cards for the foreseeable future. When I hit this Powerball tonight, it’s over for you heaux. In the meantime, it’s just a question of win the day, make it to the weekend, live in the moment and cherish the simple and affordable things. The extent to which a pint in the shed has become more desirable than a trip to the pub is remarkable, but also welcome. If i can’t go back to pre-tirement full time, I’m going to be retired every second I can spare.

One more. May we have better things to blog about going forward.