The Storm Is Upon Us

 The Disinformation storm. On Earth-2, an alternate universe where Elon Musk didn't buy Twitter and dismantle it in the service of the far right, when Hamas stormed across the border in a surprise attack on Israel we were able to get credible breaking news from Twitter (now X . . . Xitter).

Alas, here, where we live, on Earth 1, we can't. It's a sea of disinformation, misinformation, speculation masquerading as information, and so on. If you believe that the Main Stream Media is like that two, you are an idiot. No: the MSM is not a disinformation factory--and they are doing the only reporting The Omnivore trusts these days--however, there is one thing they weren't good at: on the ground, real-time information from people in the disaster area.

Now that Elon has carefully broken all of it (from internal systems that prevented the spread of misinformation to the removal of verification checks to cozying up with the far right, etc.) we are stuck with a service that was pretty vital to those of us prising real-time data with a minimal filter being replaced with a service that feeds us 3rd Riech propaganda in real time.

It's worse than that: the information eco-system ain't simple. A lie repeated on Twitter can be picked up and repeated by someone you trust--or, if you fall for it, someone who trusts you. The maneuver was just read an assertion that Israeli media is reporting they got a heads up from Egyptian intelligence about the attack.

This person did NOT say "and I read it from someone I don't know on Twitter." But they did. Fortunately, when The Omniovre asked "where'd you see that?" the answer was "someone I don't know who they are on twitter--so . . . yeah . . ." and to be fair it was presented as unverified "ruminint" anyway--but the fact remains that if The Omnivore had been running out the door and hadn't asked about this, The Omnivore would've been inclined to believe it. 

It sneaks past The Omnivore's internal defenses by hitting some priors (intel services must've known something) and the person relaying it is trusted--so . . . yeah.

If you are getting any information that is NOT from AP, Reuters, the BBC, and so on--that group in the very small group of outlets today that we call the "Lamestream Media"--you may be feeding from this disinformation well and not even know it. That means culturally we have to roll back to like 1998 or else we're all gonna end up like the boomers: stuffled full of bullshit and not even aware of it.

Dammit.

The Problem Dissolver's Caucus

 

Yesterday the House Democrats sided with the MAGA extreme fringe loons to oust Kevin "My Kevin" McCarthy from the speaker's chair. Now, as The Omnivore undersatnds it, the House can only do two things: adjourn or vote in a new speaker.

The right-wing finger-waver's caucus of pundits is verah, verah mad . . . at the Democrats. PJ Media, lamenting on the "dumpster fire" the GOP has plunged itself into, says that McCarthy learned the key lesson: Don't Trust Democrats. Hot Air rediscovers the story of the scorpion and the frog and casts the Democrats in the Problem Solvers Caucus as the scorpion--biding its time to strike when the Frog is in the middle of the river!

Yes: The Democrats are definitely, definitely to blame for this.

Let's look under the covers.

Under The Covers

Hot Air notes that the Problem Solver's Caucus--a group of "bi-partisan" Republicans and Democrats, has exsted for six years and never did anything but virtue signal. They were supposed to protect the institution from the extremes of MAGA and that was clearly nonsense as they did nothing.

Well, wait, they did one thing: they made it harder to remove a speaker!

Kevin, hat in hand, bargained that protection away when groveling with the MAGA extremes. You would think that the writer, having typed that sentence would ask himself why Democrats ought to vote to keep McCarthy in the first place at that point.

Of course, he doesn't--he laments that PSC Dems only care about Democrat Speakers--not the institution. He's so close to getting it, he should post on /r/selfaware wolves, the Reddit forum for people who are *this close* to being self-ware . . . but fall short.

No, what's under the covers is a whole lot of bullshit. Let's see.

The Pro-Temp speaker, an R's firs (and probably only) move was to oust Nancy Pelosi from her small ex-speaker's office. This was done for sheer pettiness's sake. Considering that reachin' around the isle, it looks like the scorpion was right to strike (the 'frog' was gonna try to drown him anyway).

Also: McCarthy, who the finger-wagglers think should've been saved by Democrats, was:

* Opening impeachment inquiries into President Biden

* Disparaged the Jan 6th Committee

* Didn't offer any concession to the Democrats if they kept him--after giving away the shop to the MAGA extremes.

* Did his fucking job by passing a bill to keep the government open--something the finger wagglers thought was a great concession to Democrats.

The bar, as they say, was low.

The time for McCarthy to work with Democrats to shore up his position was months ago. Yes: he had an awful caucus. Yes, he built a big red self-destruct button into his speakership (one of the conditions for his "yes" vote from the Freedom Caucus was that any one member could call a vote to remove him). If he wanted defenses against that, he should've cut some back-room deals with the Democrats before now.

Now? They did what any normal minority party would do with someone who was taking hostile steps against their incumbent president.

It wasn't the Democrat's job to save him--and they did not.

The GOP punditry's rage at them is a tacit admission that their own party can't be expected to wipe its own ass--someone grown-up has to do it for them.

Disaster for the GOP LOOMS! LOOMS!

 

A HarrisX poll found that 53% of Republicans think Trump is a "man of faith" and only 35% of Republicans think Mitt Romney is.

Now, ignorning for a moment that the question didn't ask "Is Person X a Heritic of Faith?" (to which the answer is, of course, yes, 100% for Romney--a Mormon and zero % for Trump who, of course, believes nothing) we can see that this is a disaster for the GOP.

Why?

Oh, You Don't Remember?

What really destroyed the Democrats, we are told by sour Republicans was when as a public service, and with love in their hearts for ALL MANKIND (okay, not womankind--but that's implied. Also, not really for the blacks) their peace offering was shat upon by the media!

You see, Romney, a saint--and not just a Latter Day Saint--was ridiculed for saying he had BINDERS of WOMEN. He was reviled for saying that 47% of Americans were all Take and No Give. He was DONE DIRTY by a story about how he put a dog in a carrier and strapped it to the top of his car for a family vacation.

The Biden laugh-line about how Romeny would re-enslave black people was passed over despite its vileness. Thus, as the good-and-decent man they nominated---just to please the press and Democrats--was rejected, THEN--THEN THEY HAD to give us all The Trump.

You see, we: the masses who did not vote for Romney out of politeness brought it on ourselves.

But now? Now rejecting Romney as a man of faith and dubbing him a RINO, the GOP is making the same fatal mistake the Democrats did. By rejecting St. Romney, what doom will they bring upon themselves?

Only time will tell, but this is like Bork-on-steroids. Let The Omnivore tell you: DOOOOM.

Doom.

He Shotguns a lot of Stuff

 This is how a friend of the Omnivore who really ought to know better apologized on behalf of Trump, whom he voted for (once--did he vote for Trump a second time? Probably--but The Omnivore really doesn't want to know). This Omni-Friend was engaged in the favorite pastime of "Never-Trump-Until-It-Looks-Like-He-Could-Win" pundrity.

This dance is done by capering around enjoying the lib-owning and looking in the mirror repeating over and over "they're trying to groom kids and move Pakistanis into the coutnry" in an attempt to actually make yourself believe it.

So when Trump is super-stupid? He's 'shotgunning stuff' (whatever that means: if we're going with that, he tried to shotgun the Constitution--but even at close range, he missed). No, you can't say: "Yeah, my guy is stupid and venal--but if I vote for that then by the transitive property, I'm stupid and venal so, uh, no--no--he's really smart--he's so smert--and he's just 'shotgunning' stuff."

Yeah.

Sympathy for the Deebil

Matt Lewis who writes conservative crap for The Daily Beast holds his hand to his forehead while lamenting what Ru-ru Murdoch of Fox did to his beloved conservative party. Why, Ru-ru, after whom Matty would have named his babies if he thought Trump would win this cycle, dropped his pantaloons and took a shit on the party that was still Matty's precious while Sarah Palin was ascendant and McCain was reviled for telling a radio personality that constantly using Obama's middle name was kinda an appeal to racism.

The Omnivore assumes his Omni-friend would hold, if Palin won, that she just machine guns a lot of stuff or whatever term of art is used when someone does something dumb and venal--but is keeping those goddamn Pakistanis out of the US of A. You've gotta take a stand somewhere, right?

No--Matty was soooo mad at 'Obamna' that he'd have taken a philandering dirty-money narcissist liar over him seven days of the week (and twice on Sunday--because as he'd probably tell to you: he's a good Ghod-fearin' Christian).

The fact is that Fox DID heavily contribute to the fall of America (we're fallin'--sorry Charlie Daniels). He's not wrong about that. The reason he should keep his fucking mouth shut is because he's only lamenting what indignities was inflicted upon on his beloved (partah) AFTER things had gotten so bad he was afraid he was gonna lose.

While that strain of populist crap was powering voting he liked? THAT was when he kept his goddamn mouth shut.

After all, shotgunning a lot of stuff is fine--so long as you're on the right end of the shotgun.

Turn This Thing Around (I Will Not Go Quietly)

Don Henley had some advice, by way of verse, that anyone who wants to criticize Trump should take. You don't get to straddle the line like someone using a latrine trench: if you want to trash talk your former lover, do what Joe Walsh (not Matt--fuck Matts forever) or the Lincoln Party guys did: Start vocally supporting Democrats.

 Yes, they're going to import those Pakistanis like there's no tomorrow, but they aren't going to pull us out of NATO or sell us out to Putin. They are also a lot less likely to strom the Capitol and suggest suspending the constitution.

It's a balancing act that hangs on the width of a single hair--but there's a right side and a wrong side. Maybe guys like Matty could figure out which is which.

What If He Believe It? A Theory of The Docudrama

 The Omnivore has another theory about Trump-Documents:

The Omnivore has a theory.

The 'My Documents' Explanation

The outstanding question about Trump-Documents is "What the fuck was he doing with all that shit?" If he was selling it, well, who'd he sell it to? If he was saving it for, like, blackmail or whatever, why keep it in his bathroom?? If he just wanted to keep it for ego? Well, yeah--that seems to fit. 

This is the "My Documents" theory of Trump-Documents. 

But then this raises a question: when it became clear he was gonna bring The Heat down on himself as the federal government was sharpening its claws and getting ready to slash him, why not give "my documents" back? Maybe make copies and have them mocked up to look like originals or something (like he does with fake Time Magazine covers at his golf clubs?).

Sure, he wanted his documents--but what made him think he could prevail in a court battle over them? Could . . . Could he really be that stupid?

Well, yeah--that seems to fit.

But WAT IF?

When it came out just now that Trump wrote to-do instructions on the blacks of classified briefing cards to give to his aides, it becomes plain that Trump wasn't just stupid about this: he was reckless in a whole 'nother dimension. Why? Why would he do that?

Well, let's peek in a rabbit hole . . .

Remember that Ukrainian Server? The 'Server' that Trump wanted Zelenski to look for / fabricate / whatever is mysterious, no? The theory of The Server goes something like this:

Hillary was doing all kinds of bad shit with her private email server. When DNC employee Seth Rich decided to blow the whistle, she had him killed. He released some of the materials through the heroic WikiLeaks--but the DNC refused to let the FBI investigate "the hack" so the DNC server, that they hid (in Ukraine) had all of the really bad shit on it. You get that server? You get Hillary--and Biden--and Obama. All of them.

We know the really bad shit was there because when investigators came knocking, Hillary destroyed her phones with hammers and poured Bleach in her server (after getting a Subponea to make her keep that shit). So she knew: if it came out, she was goin' down.

Record Scrach. Freeze Frame.

"It worked. She walked. End of story!"

The Docudrama Theory

What if Trump's belief is that when Hillary flagrantly broke ALL THE LAWS, she suffered nothing for it. This means: nobody really cares / can do anything about these breaches (so long as it isn't selling secrets directly). As such, he was airtight. He could do whatever he wanted with his precious and no nasty hobbitses could steal it.

What if he REALLY believed that if Hill could get away with all that shit, so could he. What if he believed the ridiculous fiction of The Server?

WHAT IF??

The Defiance of Climates?

 Climate Definace on Xitter posted a video of their people standing with linked arms outside CitiGroup in New York:

https://twitter.com/ClimateDefiance/status/1702368328247804073

This is a stupid, stupid protest. They struck a mighty blow for Climate by . . . stopping a bunch of IT executives from getting to their offices on time? Yeah, that'll work.

Worse: a bunch of those people believe in cimate change and champion Citi to pursue green alternatives (remember CitiBike?). But, as usual, the key word here is 'defiance' not 'climate.' The group wants to piss off their parents, not save the planet. Since their parents could actually dock their allowances or kick them out of their houses, they'll settle for symbolic proxies: Teh BiG BaNkS.

Now, The Big Banks got much to answer for. That's true. And historically, they certainly have done their share of climate bullshit. It's not like you couldn't point to things. The question is: why protest them? And, why like this? Who thought this was a good idea.

It's All About Eyeballs

The reason they did this, like this, is because they assert--they believe--that this action will draw attention--will roust the normies from their slumber--will Wake The Sheeple. They're not wrong that it got some attention (people in Citi IT are sharing the video and laughing at them! Mission Accomplished!) but waking the sheeple?

No--when Earth First! unrolled a fake crack down the face of the Glenn Canyon Dam, that was clever. This? This is not clever. The abrupt fear and shock created by the eco-performance of EF is light years ahead of the annoyance created by linking arms at CitiGroup HQ.

Annoying The Normies

When BLM shuts down a street by protesting normies, at least, are inconvenienced. Now, that COULD just turn them against the protests--but The Omnivore thinks it's more interesting that that. If the normie believes that the BLM complaint (extra judicial execution of George Floyd in a horiffic, televised manner) is legitimate--and they think the street being blocked is annoying, they MIGHT think: "Gosh, if I don't want to keep having to detour, maybe I could pitch in to fight against the extrajudicial execution of Floyd!?). Maybe. Maybe not--but at least the normie in question has to directly think about the issue.

In this case, the only people who have to think about the "issue" (climate? Big Banks and climate? What?) are a bunch of IT executives. Other people just look and snicker. What this really is is an ad for Climate Defiance--targeted at other activists. "Join us and you could get a news camera pointed at you--which is all you really want, to be honest."

At least Occupy Wall Street was about economic inequality. If this was being done an Exxon? Well, they'd probably get their wee little skulls broken. The same reason PETA people throw red paint on laides in furs and not bikers in leather . . . 

It's A Stupid Solution To A Real Problem

Right now half of the two-party system doesn't even believe in climate change. That's a much bigger problem than Citigroup's green initiatives (there are a bunch) not going far enough. It's also one that teenaged defiance can't really address. Sorry guys.

The Atheist and the Crucible

The Omnivore saw something interesting: 

This is Pinecreek

This is The Crucible

(Andrew a.k.a. Big Papa Fascist upper right)

This Will Take A Little 'Splainin

PineCreek is an uber-atheist. He holds the pleasant, polite, and often incisive PineCreek channel where he debates with theists about why they hold their beliefs and pokes holes in their logic. He's very polite--very well spoken--and he does a good job of hiding his conservative power level . . . usually.

A few days ago he was on The Crucible.

The Crucible, headed by Andrew--who was deemed the Big Papa Fascist and has taken the name as "a joke" is a right-wing politics debate channel. It's pretty good--rarely a trash fire--and whatever the problems they might have, they aren't Trumpaloos and aren't stupid. No, the problem with The Crucible isn't intellectual horsepower. In this episode, Andrew argues for an Orthodox Church Theocracy and he's very conservative (but no, not Trumpian, nor especially racist for someone with his general political leanings). PineCreek had some questions.

It Was a Love Fest (sorta)

PineCreek is totally anti-theist. He is eager to tear down their world-views (The Omnivore doesn't know if he's trying to de-convert people or just likes arguing--but boy does he like arguing). However, he's also . . . quite conservative. He doesn't usually go into it on his channel, but for instance, when hugging Andrew, he explained that:

• The shoplifting epidemic in California is horrible.
• What they are doing to kids (Transing them, presumably) is heartbreaking
• Earlier: They're litigating against Trump because they don't want him to run again.

The shoplifting epidemic IS horrible--he's not wrong about that. It's become something similar to just "shopping" in some places . . organized, systematized shopping. Seeing liberals make excuses for it (it's big corporations? whatever) isn't great. Clearly there is some kind of breakdown there. The Omnivore hasn't looked into it (probably: neither has PineCreek). But . . .

What they are doing to kids? That's . . . well . . . PineCreek isn't stupid--but that take is (The Omnivore is sure he's stuffed full of nuance and fact like a pinata--and if hit, would run away rather than debate on THAT--because, like the theists he goes after . . . he probably can't defend his strongly held opinion).

And . . 

If the words "They're just going after Trump because they don't want him to run again" came out of his mouth, The Omnivore bets that if questioned on that position, his nuance would be "I don't actually believe that--or at least I can't defend it--so I cede the field like the mighty intellectual warrior I am!").

Given his rigor with theism, his take on politics is what you'd expect from a real conservative . . . flimsy and a bit cowardly.

On The Theocratic Autocracy

But when he met Andrew? There was hugging--Christian-ethics side-hugging . . . so not gay--certainly not gay--but hugging . . . maybe even some platonic kissing.

You see, PineCreek really WANTED to, erm, bottom for Andrew. PineCreek, by his own admission agrees with Andrew's morals--just not the source of them (and maybe not all of them--unclearn on how PineCreek feels about The Gays--but probably he doesn't want them anywhere near impressionable young children).

However--he wanted to know if in Andrews Theo-topia he'd be executed for not being Christian? Would he?

Oh, noes--certainly not, Andrew said. Yes, the earlier church held executions for all kinds of things--but his enlightened Theotopia? Never. You'd be safe as houses, PineCreek. Let's hug. Sideways. 

Yes--they were quite eager to get past the whole God-Doesn't-Exist thing and agree that the Theotopia would be a better place for them both to live. Would it? Let's look.

The Orthodox Theotopia

Firstly, Andrew won't have a Protestant Church in charge--it's too splintered. There's no singular head. So, no--has to be Orthodox. Catholic would work, yes--but it's not preferable. Andrew wants his brand of orthodox--Eastern (?) to be the top collar. For mere nanoseconds, this sounds sensible. Then it all falls apart (but PineCreek lets it go--why? Love was in the air, man. Don't harsh the vibe, man. All conservatives really want to be counter-cultural hippies at heart. Remember that.)

The problem with this is that (a) Orthodoxies DO splinter (Vatican II, our new woke-pope, etc.) It might not be a formal schism--but if that disqualifies you from holding the crown then the comparatively tiny Orthodox church Andrew believes in would likely only meet the requirements for a little while once you put it in charge of the current sole hyper-power on earth.

Also (b) Andrew says Catholicism would be acceptable--because if he disqualifies it, things get uncomfortable fast. PineCreek won't say it (it'd be rude!) so The Omnivore will:

• For someone all Save The Children, does the Catholic Church's massive pedophile scandals disqualify them? If not, why? Objectively priests on a per-capita scale are worse than drag queens.
• What does Andrew think about Vatican II? The Omnivore bets he really doesn't like it! But it was done through the rules, so he has to accept it (philosophically). But he can't say that--because then we discover that he doesn't really think Catholicism is a legitimate theo-governement. He just can't disqualify it on the playingfield he wants to fight on.

Andrew is, as they say, hiding his power level.

But so is PineCreek.

PineCreek wants to know if he'd be killed for not believing in the Orthodox state. Andrew says "no wai, boi--we friends, let's hug!" (sideways). But The Ominvore isn't so sure. You see, the problem is this:

1. Andrew knows--really knows--in his heart--that there is NO WAY to implement his idea. He's further away than American Stalinists. He's hitched his cart to a loser of an idea. There isn't even sixth or seventh column gearing up to take the reins of power when his accelerationist buddies tear down the globohomo-state. No, he's all: "Get in the car, loser! We're going losing." Big Papa Fascist hates to lose almost as much as PineCreek does. So . . . what the fuck?
2. However, Andrew knows he can hold a position so long as it's all philosophical and he can hug (sideways) and fuck (so long as he's not photographed doing it) the hard-right and he can get a lot of what he wants: persecution of degeneracy. That's why he doesn't think he's a loser. Remember: the ultimate goal here--for both of them--is to fight in their chosen arenas and Not Lose.

So Andrew, whether he admits it or not, is in bed with all the religofascists who ARE in positions to take power. He just, you know, hides his power level, so he can give PineCreek the philosophical reach-around.

PineCreek was liking it too--it's good to have friends. But PineCreek ALSO had to pretend to O. You know, he had to pretend he didn't see the inherent contradictions that mean that Big Papa Fascist isn't quite the ironical joke that Andrew makes it out to be. No--he's perfectly okay with a fascism that's religious and kinda close to his. It's also one that would throw PC off the building along with the degenerates PC also hates.

Piney would hate them all the way down to the pavement--and feel mistreated--victimized. Andrew would shed a tear, yeh? But that's what he's talking about right now in real life, on stream. For Andrew this isn't a hypothetical game of philosophical chess. He can go and vote for Trump or Ted Cruz or Ron DeSantis and, should they win, get closer to the fascist state he wants. He'll just have to swallow the racism (which he doesn't like) and sniffle as PineCreek gets put on a list somewhere for big-time atheists spreading their child-harming degeneracy).

But he knows that so long as he doesn't play in PineCreek's sandbox he doesn't have to risk losing--and PineCreek knows he can be bedfellows with The Crucible just as long as he's willing to sleep in the wet spot.