The new Dark Age

Jan Van Eyck's The Last Judgment.

When I was a graduate student at Miami University working for my master's and Ph.D. in American history with an emphasis on the Progressive era and Great Depression, an essential book was The Modern Researcher, by Jacques Barzun and Henry Graff. Barzun went on to write another important work entitled, From Dawn to Decadence, 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life. 

By decadence, Barzun, a French-born American historian, didn't mean we had degenerated into orgies and widespread louche behavior (too bad). Rather, he argued that the West had run out of ideas. Look at any skyline and you'll see variations of the same International style architecture that has overrun our cities since the end of World War II. But no revival of Art Deco, the pinnacle of architectural achievement in the 1920s and 1930s. Go to the symphony and you'll hear new compositions that only harken back to the atonal music of the early 20th century.

Even pop culture has stagnated. My unified theory is that everything that's bad is getting worse and everything good is at risk, that keeping people stupid allows for every kind of mischief, especially to our democracy.

More than that, we're entering a new Dark Age. The Dark Ages, as every schoolchild once knew, lasted from the fall of the Western Roman Empire until the Renaissance, Reformation and Age of Enlightenment. Our new Dark Age will be different, yet perhaps share some similarities.

The Dark Ages (a term coined by Petrarch, an Italian Renaissance scholar) didn't connote physical darkness — although William Manchester's A World Lit Only By Fire is a terrific read. Rather, it meant a time of cultural, intellectual, social, and economic darkness. The loss of these from Rome and Greece. Some of this knowledge was preserved by Muslim scholars. Some of it wasn't regained until the 19th century.

Our new Dark Age is personified by Donald Trump, a traitorous con man who was nevertheless elected president in 2016. Why? Because of an increasingly ignorant and reactionary electorate, a backlash over the existence of President Barack Obama by many, Republican intransigence, and media malpractice over Hillary Clinton (downplaying Trump's criminality and unfitness for any elective office, while putting the most trivial allegations by Clinton above the fold). And despite all he did, including inciting a mob to storm the Capitol to overturn the 2020 electoral college certification, Trump might win again this year.

Nothing new with strongmen dictators, whether it be Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, or Vladimir Putin. They want the population ignorant, "informed" by state media, whether it be TASS or Fox News.

In the Middle Ages, the murderers row included Pedro the Cruel, King John of England, William the Bad of Sicily, and Sviatopol the Cursed of Rus. At least the latter group had appropriate des noms maléfiques. And don't expect our strongmen to result in a new Magna Carta (few even know what that is — only about 24,000 students at American universities are history majors).

Our new Dark Age depends on the loss of knowledge, the loss of scholarship. So few men read nowadays. When they do, they choose comic books. Publishers want young adult fiction. The largest demographic for books, including mine, is women. Far fewer men go to college today than a generation ago. Younger women talk in "creaky speak." People dress like adolescents. Only the rebels wear suits and ties.

Scientific breakthroughs continue, to be sure  This also happened in the Middle Ages. But increasing numbers of Americans don’t believe in science. It’s not only confined to the right wing Kooks. Many coastal elites fall into this Dark Age category — look at the liberal anti-vaxxers and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Historiography inevitable tilts to the left. Our Founding Fathers were enslavers, committing genocide against "Native Americans" or looked the other way as genocide was carried out. The Declaration of Independence is a sham, a lie. We're not attempting to form a more perfect union or establish justice, either.

From the far-right and from the far-left, power comes from people being kept in darkness. This was a moment Orwell foretold: the thought police; “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past”; “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” Alas, the Orwell quote that has animated my calling is becoming lost: “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

The far-right trucks in conspiracies — the January 6th insurrection was an inside job orchestrated by the FBI (failed gubernatorial candidate, the utterly unqualified newsreader Kari Lake propagates this one); the New York Rainbow Bridge attack by Muslims that never happened; assorted lies about Hillary Clinton — debunked but so many voters believe them.

On the far-left, we have the world of "wokeness," where professors are forced to give "safe spaces" and "trigger warnings" about uncomfortable topics. Swerve away and you're out of a job. We fight over pronouns and Critical Gender and Critical Race theories. Disagree and you’re labeled a racist — a useful way to shut down debate and cancel an opponent, to trivialize real racism. Is it any wonder so few people want to be history majors?

Its a good thing my faculty adviser warned me that I wrote too clearly to be a successful academic historian. So I remained in newspapering and writing novels.

An entirely new language is mandatory in academia, the media, and corporations: slaves were "enslaved people, junkies are "people struggling with drug abuse," and bums are "our homeless neighbors."

Confederate statues are demolished, instead of being reinterpreted and Civil War history being widely taught. All white people are lumped into the category of oppressors. And liberals, who accept our increasingly illiberal culture, wonder why so many people are willing to take another chance on Trump. 

All of this is carried like a bacillus on (anti)social media such as Elon Musk's X and TikTok. Better to use a few words or better yet videos that quickly go away. The better to keep people in the dark. Tech companies “became key players in killing our comity and stymieing our politics, our government, our social fabric, and most of all, our minds, by seeding isolation,” Kara Swisher writes in her new Burn Book.

Pax Americana has prevented a direct war between major powers since the end of World War II, expanded trade and protected the sea lanes with the U.S. Navy, lifted a billion people out of poverty, and enjoyed the best gold card on the planet with the dollar as the world's reserve currency. We've made plenty of mistakes, from the Vietnam War to W's imperial adventures. But on the whole, I think the United States is the indispensable country.

Yet our Front Page Editor Emeritus, who spent decades in the foreign service, disagrees. He argues that America has become an evil warmonger.

How will Pax China rule the world? Our experiment in self-government is a product of the Enlightenment. But the light is fading. China's is a dictatorship with nukes. Meanwhile, Vladimir the Murderer wants to redraw the map of Europe by force for the first time since the end of World War II. His enablers are the Republican Party.

Our New Dark Age depends on the fumes running dry from the reformation. The mainline Protestant churches are dying. And as much as most of my readers scoff at the notion that any smart person could be a believer, that so many crimes have been committed in the name of Christianity, at its best it has been a critical firewall against the worst of humanity.

Our new Dark Age also requires ignorance of human-caused climate change, the existential challenge of our lifetimes. "Conservatives" deny it's real, claiming the planet is actually cooling. The far-left is mostly concerned about how it will affect "people of color" (as if white isn't a color, too). So we do nothing except wallow in hypocrisy.

Republicans braying about border crossers while refusing to acknowledge that a warming planet will bring millions norte, complaining about not "wanting to pass on the national debt to my grandchildren." No, you will be passing along a planet out of a science fiction movie.

I'll tell you this: November's election will be the most consequential of our lives. Maybe President Biden should step aside at the Democratic convention and let the delegates find a better candidate, maybe Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who could carry a critical swing state. But I fear Trump would flay her in a debate.

So if Trump wins, we're headed into the new Dark Age at warp speed and I don't see a Renaissance ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Doc]

You very clearly and accurately diagnosed the illness that afflicts the population of the US Empire.

Trump is just a symptom. Kind of like an orange rash around the anus of the country.

The patient is resistant to treatment which consists of a salve of truth and knowledge. Apply twice daily with a spatula and hold in place with an adult diaper.

The prognosis is not promising.

[Doc]

Is the disease airborne?

Sort of, it's spread by the media.

[NormW]

The view from north of the 49th: Trump will VERY likely win the upcoming contest. The United States (sadly) is NOT indispensable (except as a trading partner, and that isn't going to go away.) The concept of "exceptionalism" has devolved into cult status. My theory is that, per capita, the numbers of wingnuts, idiots, and just plain evil folks is roughly the same wherever in the world you go.

[Brad]

I can agree with most of this, but I do think you may want to reconsider your characterization of RFK Jr. He's described as an antivaxxer by the corporate media when in reality he just wants to ensure that vaccines are safe and drug companies can be held liable when they aren't. As for the rest of his views, he is the only candidate who actually upholds the ideals of freedom and liberty as described in the Constitution.

[Steve R]

I have Barzun's Dawn to Decadence. Being an engineer and not a historian, I have to admit I only made it to about page 70. I bought it on the strength of the forward from Alistair Cooke, whose weekly Letters to America I had listened to since 1972. Cooke mentioned Barzun's book in one of his later broadcasts before he died in 2004.

But the decadence, as you and Barzun describe, is clear enough. In the US we've gone from a lifting of all (most) boats to a kind of predatory culture of winners and losers: my profit must come at someone else's loss.

The motivation for a disinformation outlet like Fox News is not hard to see: far better for viewers to vilify immigrants than to reform the tax code that has hollowed out the middle class and enriched Murdoch & Friends.

It's an open question whether we can preserve an electorate competent enough to keep the republic. As for the decadence of the present civilization - well, the renaissance ended the Dark Ages, through the recovery of Greek/Arabic texts which ignited scientific thought and method.

Similar paradigm changes can't be ruled out in the future - they should be expected. An example - the eventual discovery of other intelligent life outside our home planet - would change history much like the natural sciences and printing press did.

As a technologist, I have helped amplify the power of the individual human being (think cell/smartphone). I'm afraid this has caused harm to our culture, by making predation easier in all its dimensions: political, economic, social. Ultimately we are limited by the aggression inherent in our biology, ever since the first organisms competed for food in the first tide pools. We could use the wisdom of a neighbor civilization with a billion years on us - that would be a paradigm shift.

[Steve R]

Correction: "Letters from America"

[Dawgzy]

Thanks, Jon. This puts me in mind of Morris Berman’s 3 books on the topics: Twilight of American Culture, Dark Ages America, and Why America Failed. Good, if dispiriting reading. During G.W. bush curiosity about the country’s trajectory made we wish to live long enough to track it well into the 2030’s. I don’t feel that way now.

[re silc]

I’ve been a Jon Talton fan since 2000. He’s one the THE best and this excellent piece is a clear demonstration of his many talents and vision. As I have mentioned to him, like a broken record, until we give up the very costly global empire (in real and opportunity cost dollars) and work to fix this place, the toilet swirl continues for USA USA......Biden or Trump. War is not an investment in freedom, but education, infrastructure and healthcare is! My Vermont real estate taxes are about to go up 20% this year due to total chaos in education for a small, rural state with fewer kids spread all over. Maybe Lockheed could spare a few nickels.

.....the 2024 winner, either one, will be impeached and removed by 2027 mid summer. Blowback is on a narrower sine wave each election cycle. I disagree about Whitmer. I think she could handle Trump in a debate. She is likely the only Democrat, other than your Washington State Inslee, I would vote for at this time. Genocide Joe will never get my vote, too many neoconjobs running his foreign policy for me. However, my North Carolina vote is pretty worthless since it will go to Trump no matter who I vote for. My biggest worry is Trump carries the full slate here, especially governor, and most other state races with him.

But……in the end Mose Allison said it all........https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqd3W9NNkbo

[Cal Lash]

Excellent column.
Excellent comments.

[J. van Walsum]

A few questions:
1. Does this sound like our parents did about us?
2. This is clearly the US being referred to as chest thumper of old. However, many of our past political/military actions have led to much of our current international chagrin.
3. “My unified theory” is a contradiction in terms.
4. Does this assume that the entire younger generations have no emerging leaders? They are the few not the many. And I know some of them.
5. “Reading” and “Scholarship’. They are being done for corporate america. OR they actually ARE working toward the nfuture. Or perhaps a mix.
6. This hand wringing is definitely done largely by well-off white men in the US. Take a cross country trip OFF the freeway and see what has been done to blue-collar America, at decayed Victorian neighborhoods and shuttered, once solid middle class, houses. Take a drive through black and hispanic inner cities, where freeways WE built destroyed once vibrant neighborhoods of color, and access to good supermarkets and pharmacies are miles, not blocks, away. Where red-lining STILL exists, and people were warehoused into tenements.

UNTIL the Democratic Party, in Full, says Education is Number One Priority, it won’t go back to the “old way”.
Who knows where that could lead??

Maybe it’s hands-on instead of academic.
I personally know 10 young folks - under 35 - who are busting butt to make a difference! And then there’s their friends!
***
I know, I’m a dysfunctional optimist…
🫣

[Inquiring Mind]

Anyone know why the column grinds to a halt after the dreaded tenth comment? This doesn't count, it's a question.

[Bobson Dugnutt]

On tonight's (March 1) episode of WWE Smackdown, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a heel (villain) again. WWE was in Glendale and Rock said "Phoenix Was No. 1 for cocaine and meth addiction." He drew cheers for about 30 seconds before being booed, but the cheers were louder.

Make of it what you will.

[Rich Weinroth]

Are we entering a new Dark Age? I'm reminded of the old saying, "You're never as good as you look when you're wining, and you're never as bad as you look when you're losing". I see tougher times ahead, but not a new Dark Age. We just need to start addressing our problems instead of demagoguing them and punting. We will ultimately have to address them or they will address us.

[Cal Lash]

Planet Earth will put closure to the human issue.
The big cock WWE and the Rock is a fake jerkoff show.
Percentage of population drug use makes me suspect of tje Rocks comment.

[Cal Lash]

A QUICK GOOGLE sEARCH SHOWS Mesa #2 and Phoenix #6

[Michael]

Bro, the people crossing the southern and northern borders aren't doing so because they're all of a sudden too sweaty in Central America because we drove too many cars and it got too hot. They're coming for the free stuff.

Doesn't matter if Trump or Biden or whichever other puppet wins. All will have their agenda dictated to them by the Israelis. Could be Trump though, as the Israelis are trying to get the US to fight the whole Muslim world for them, and Russia, and China, and need the good ol' boys to do their fighting, rather than the Trannified Forces. Latest army ads are all white southern & midwestern boys doing manly things like jumping from planes.

I've lived in China, it's pretty chill. The young men are not drug and porn addicted and are optimistic/working hard for their futures. Student loans aren't a thing, and the older generation didn't set up a Saturnine ponzi scheme like social security. It's true they don't get to choose between 2 Israeli-controlled puppets every 4 years, but on the other hand there are no junkies belligerently asking for uh dolla, and no homeless black people shoving people onto train tracks. They're ok with that.

And if you want to whine about CeNsOrShiP or "u CaNt CritiCize GoVerNmEnt There", try posting "The Israelis control the US Government" on your social media and see what happens...hint: the same thing that'll happen to this comment.

[Cal Lash]

How about the book
"Our Palestinian Question" 1950/1970 by
Geoffrey Levin.
And "American Jewish
McCarthyism."

Or Don Peretz 1993 book "Palestinian Refugees and the Middle East Peace Process."

[Michael II]

Michael,

Everywhere in your post take the word Israeli out and replace it with:

Rothschilds

Oil companies

Wall Street

Oligarchs

Ivy League secret societies

God (choose your flavor)

We're 98% chimpanzee. You give us too much credit. We play with ourselves and fling shit at strangers. That's it.

[Joe Schallan]

The new Dark Ages have already hit Florida:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/03/florida-measles-outbreak-preventable

[Michael II]

Michael,

Did you notice , comments only , no censorship here.

[2002 subaru outback]

“The far-left is mostly concerned about how [climate change] will affect "people of color" (as if white isn't a color, too).”

I get that the modern American left is a laughing stock even amongst those who identify as such, but the only times I ever see this form of identity politics is when it is done so by (liberal) thinktanks and (liberal) sensationalist journos like yourself. Thank you for not personally falling into such a trap, but speak to any serious lefty who isn’t poisoned by the internet and you’ll see there’s a pretty universalist concern surrounding climate change.

Anyways, I’m still voting this year but I think it’ll just be more of the same regardless of who is elected. Though with Trump we will probably get more culture war, abortion ban adjacent garbage which I’m not looking forward to. The Inflation Reduction Act was great and all, but I don’t think Biden is going to fix global climate change when it’s unlikely he will even live to the end of his potential second term. We can’t undo centuries of carbon emissions by slowly reducing them over the next few decades. Now there is only damage control, as the earth slowly kills us all off. I’m not saying we shouldn’t try to fix things, and I definitely don’t think we should deny that it is happening, but the climate is fucked regardless of who wins the election this year, or any year. Sorry!

[Ruben Retired commentor, unretired for this comment.]

Anthropocene - While scientists say this era is not officially here, we are seeing the extinction of thousands of species in addition to the discovery of thousands of newly discovered species. So, business as usual.

What is unusual is the appearance of interbreeding which is quite troubling. A new species has been discovered in the Washington DC area which can only be described as something out of a George Romero movie. The animal has the head of a human male republican, the body of a worm, no spine and no genitals. The mouth makes a sucking sound anytime anything orange is within eyesight. The species has been named the McConnell-Barasso-Thune-vermis. Several sub-species have been found, Graham and Cruz vermi.

Species go extinct, new species adapt.

It is the way of the earth.

[Bobson Dugnutt]

To touch on 2002 Subaru Outback's comment, all of the efforts to decarbonize are to stop the growth in temperatures that set off a chain reaction of climate-change catastrophes that affect everything from the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, to sea level rise inundating coastal area and upending economies, to crop and seafood die-offs, to more frequent pandemics and transmission of fast-evolving micropathogens ...

Earth has crossed so many tipping points that the enormity of decarbonization will only achieve the end result of higher temperatures staying high. It's demoralizing once you accept it. Transitioning away from fossil-fuel-intense activity leaves humanity much like Elvis Presley leading up to the moments where he literally shat himself to death. All of the hard living he did in his youth accumulated to his body failing him.

Had he changed up his diet, quit alcohol, and instead of the pills he was taking substituted them for modern pharmaceuticals dealing with chronic conditions, he might have lived another couple of decades. He'd be alive, but in the same decrepit condition as his final years.

For the most part, humanity is unable and unwilling to comprehend the crisis climate change is posing. For one, most people's brains aren't "wired" for the complex thinking required to understand climate change. Typically, the mind looks for direct-cause patterns. Like "burning fossil fuels causes climate change" is true on a most superficial level and that's all people can process.

Climate science, on the other hand, works on the level of something like predicting the trajectory of every billiard ball after the break shot. There's too much randomness, probability and risk to make it all make sense.

[Cal Lash]

I told you.
8 billion and counting.
Malthus

[Cal Lash]

Ruben u read that article on Super worms.
A human replacement with no borders.

[B. Franklin]

Gosh, what a dark, sad, dystopian place this has become.

I think I'll fix myself a nice strong drink, listen to some music, and look out the window at a beautiful day.

Since we are all "born astride a grave", we might as well enjoy what little time we have.

And, whatever happens, the earth will be fine, with or without us.

Oh, by the way, it's the people who think there isn't any real difference between Biden and The Traitor who are the real problem.

[eclecticdog]

Morris Berman! Haven’t heard that name in a while. Used to read his blog about living in Mexico and about the US. Likewise, Joe Bageant wrote about Belize and rednecks. Miss them both.

[Michael]

Michael II, bro you have no idea how many comments I've had deleted here.

Rogue even made a "stunning and brave" unprompted proclamation that "All comments criticizing Israel or Jewish people (antisemitic comments) will be deleted."

The one a week ago stayed up though, that was cool. Thanks Rogue.

I think things are different after Oct 2023, the mask kinda came off regarding "our greatest ally."

[Cal Lash]

Not 14 May 1948?

[Michael]

Cal,
For the Palestinians, the mask came off on April 9, 1948.

For many Democrats here it's been the last few months.

For the Zionized evangelical "Christians" it'll probably be never. But they're not so bright.

[Cal Lash]

Michael lets not quibble over a few days.. least we argue about December 1901.

[Cal Lash]

Michael. Regarding your comments about being censored or deleted over the years was that under an assumed name?
Is Michael your real name. Michael what?
I've not been censored or deleted and I've been here since,
even before the column existed.
Im a proponent of posting by who you really are in real life.

[Cal Lash]

So who today is that righteous man following in Seths footsteps? Benjamin Netanyahu? Donald Trump?
Bernie Sanders.
Saul became Paul.
The human species is insane.

[Michael]

Cal,
Of course you haven't had any of your comments deleted. You don't say anything except 'ohh people are bad. I love the desert.'

Michael is not my real name. I'd love to use my full name, except there's a certain powerful group of people that will try to ruin your life for saying they are a powerful group of people.

[Ruben Retired commentor, unretired for this comment.,]

On this snowy April fools day I'm going to TELL you the future. It is my own personal nightmare and regardless of all the pontificating to come from the experts this is how it's going to be.

One assumption for this future to occur- between now and the election neither candidate will peg out due to age.

Ready?

Sorry all you MAGAts out there. Trump is not going to win. No way, no how.

Biden will win.

After taking office, Biden will be incapacitated either through death or mental/health issues. It is written in the actuarial charts of the world.

Kamala Harris will become President.

And there is the nightmare.

Deal with it.

[Cal Lash]

Ruben,You dont know?
Joe is dead! That is a robot built and paid for for by George the Billionaire.
Pamela and Antony are in bed together running the world.
Scary shit!

[B. Franklin]

Joe dead is still better than anything the Republicans can come up with.

[Cal Lash]

I'm voting for "Robbie" and Susan Calvin.

[The official office of Pluto, the AZ state planet]

Comments heard during the official start of the dark age in the United States of Stupid.

THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN

Even though a total eclipse occurs every seventeen years:

"It's the end of the world."

"It's a sign from above."

"God wants Trump to win."

The media, "WE'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS !!!!!"

"Does the sun rest during an eclipse?"

"The sun may never reappear, oh wait, never mind."

And so it goes......

[Bobson Dugnutt]

Good news and bad news: The Taiwanese TSMC chip fab in Arizona, beset by construction union and environmental review delays, is now back on track.

Economist Noah Smith has the details in Noahpinion: https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/at-least-five-interesting-things-d27

The bad news is that TSMC used the delays as a shakedown tactic.

Smith: Except…it turns out that all the news stories about the huge delays, including all the ones I cited in my hand-wringing posts, were wrong. The instant that the CHIPS Act handed TSMC its $5 billion in subsidies, the company suddenly declared that the Arizona plant is ahead of schedule and will begin operating later this year:

...

OOOOOPS!!! So much for that whole story. Assuming this report is confirmed, it appears that the delays were intentional sandbagging by TSMC in order to make sure it secured its CHIPS Act money. As soon as the check was safely in the mail, the company started going full steam ahead.

[Cal Lash]

Bob you know what they call this.
A SCAM!
Reminds me of
Glenn Canyon.
Another dam scam.
Perpetuated by evil Humonids.

[iaed]

Regarding The New Dark Age (this column), what are the geezers among you thinking about the Arizona Supreme Courts' decision to uphold an ancient anti-abortion law? Will it have any effect on AZ elections this fall, especially down ballot?

[Cal Lash]

They gave a gift to democrats and the finger to Trump.

[Cal Lash]

The Hill reports handicappers now give the the edge to Arizona democrats due to Arizonas Supreme Court ruling on Abortion

[JimmyC]

Even if everything "bad" that so many folks worry about comes to pass here in the New World,, the world will continue on in its bloody fashion. America will just be relegated to the sidelines - at this point, maybe not necessarily a bad thing for the rest of the world. We've had our day in the sun. But we brought this inevitable collapse upon ourselves. It's way too late to point fingers; all that's left for us is to move somewhere else, or ride this bitch into the ground. But, even if we move somewhere else, the climate...ah, the climate will still follow. But perhaps dealing with the climate will be easier in a place that isn't also riven by the strife that I see coming our way - no matter who wins this November. Pessimistic? Why, yes I am. Thanks for asking.

[Cal Lash]

Good post Jimmy C.
See new posts on the Road Ahead.

[AzRebel]

We are being forced to watch in real time the total physical and mental disintegration of the two candidates for president. It is awful to watch. If we want the Dark Ages to descend on our country then you can count on the two corrupt parties to lead us right through that tunnel.

I am so disgusted and angry. It's no wonder that the young generations want nothing to do with the process.

The first party that actively moves to dispose of its broken down husk of a human at the head of their party will get my vote.

[Cal Lash]

This column and comments is a good post and should be followed up by Talton with another. At the very least continued here with comments.

[Cal Lash]

AzRebel just asked me for a comment after I advised him on adapting safe conduct.

My response: The nearly 3000 years of religious wars have made it impossible to be safe and not discriminated against. I see no end to such except utter human destruction.
The gods of war are enjoying "manunkinds" head removing and flying body parts across the planet.
Is there anyone that could be US president and turn around the forever wars? NO!
So I'll vote a write in for president.
THE TOOTH FAIRY

[Cal Lash]

"You cannot argue with FAITH"
Madaylin Murray O'Hair

[Joe Schallan]

"My unified theory is that everything that's bad is getting worse and everything good is at risk, that keeping people stupid allows for every kind of mischief, especially to our democracy."

Many benefit from keeping people stupid, and the acolytes of Milton Friedman have discovered that you can monetize stupidity in a way that produces shareholder value much more effectively than old-line pursuits such as, say, steelmaking.

[Rogue Columnist]

“You cannot argue with those who lack the gift of faith.” — Jon Talton.

[AzRebel]

The current generation of "christians" in the U.S. consist of two groups:

Those who claim trump is God or the Son of God.

The second group choses to remain SILENT.

I'll take an atheist any day over those two groups.

[Rich Weinroth]

Long article in The Atlantic on the Phoenix area. Generally solid, but the article could have used significant input from Rogue Columnist as the writer admitted he had hardly been to Phoenix before writing the article. The article omitted a lot of Phoenix history on heat and climate, growth, craziness prior to MAGA and Tea Party (remember the "kookocracy" and Mecham). But article is still worth a read. Any thoughts welcome.

[Rogue Columnist]

The Atlantic writer didn't have anything new to add to what I've been reporting on this site or when I was a columnist for the Arizona Republic. This is what Soleri called The Arizona Problem. And the outcome will have national consequences.

[Ruben]

Coincidental with this column, the wife and I contracted the Black Plague a couple of weeks ago. It was brutal. We're still recovering. I did have nightmares that resembled the photo above. At least now, with the strides we've made with modern medicine, we were fortunate enough to have the ER doctors state to us, "looks like you caught the bug going around". Thank you doctor, what do we owe you? Depends, how much you got on you? Ouch.

[Cal Lash]

Jon Talton continues to try and convince us he has said all that can be said.
I disagree. Jon has a gift and given such I contend he has a moral obligation to scribble until the blood in his pen from hell is gone.

[Cal Lash]

In memory of Samuel Shaw, Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea Channing, Reality Winner and the many revealers of truth,
May the Julian Assagne family be free from torture by corrupt and criminaly insane polticians and governments.

[Not Ruben]

Empire - a political unit that controls vast amounts of territory and has a great deal of military and financial power.

When you go against the wishes of an Empire the "normal" rules of law and order and punishment do not apply to whistleblowers, data leakers, etc.

In ages past, the Mongol Empire is said to have killed 1/10th of the world population at the time. Thus setting the standard for future Empires.

In our time, our Empire has reacted to being attacked on 9/11 with retribution around the globe and internally with unconstitutional constraints to keep the herd in line.

Since I don't wish to relocate to the Hotel/Spa at Guantanamo Bay I'll leave it at that.

[Cal Lash]

The alleged
"no precedent" theory is bs.
Corrupt politicians like George Bush and his fellow liars will continue to murder those that REPORT the facts.
Assange is another martyr in the war against murderous corruption.
For example in November voters will be asked to vote for career criminals for President. Including politicians that voted to invade Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Still Not Ruben]

Mr. Calvin Lash of Iowa, When you are an Empire or Empire affiliated leader who commits horrible, obvious war crimes, you are allowed to say "OOPS" several times, "SO SORRY" several times and finally "I'M UNTOUCHABLE,GO AWAY".

When you are a leader of an incidental country around the world and you commit an obvious war crime, you are hunted down for decades, you are hauled to the Hague where you are housed for decades, then you are tried over a period of years and you eventually die of old age or you are sentenced to life in prison at an old age. It is the way it is.

[Cal Lash]

Ruben, sorry you gave up. They will come for your children next.
Im memory of REPORTERS Gary Webb, Robert Parry and Charles Bowden.
And in memory of all Whistleblowers including Julian Assange
Ps
I will believe the Assange deal is real when he is home "safely" with his family and there is no Drones present.

[Ruben]

Not a matter of giving up, just worn down. Like Jon has stated and even soleri, all our commentary over the years may have not changed a single mind. That is tiring. Just think of the 99% of readers of this blog. Over the years they have remained silent observers, hiding in their anonymity. I often wish I were them. Less wear and tear.

[Cal Lash]

"I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees."
Zapata

[Cal Lash]

Speaking of Dying.
My current war at 84 and staying alive is with the medical practices that sold their soles to criminal corporations ran by Corrupt CPA'S.
Doctors are now economic slaves.
Next up an increase in the sale of body parts.
The good news if I die today an animal gets my pacemaker with 9 years left on it.

[dawgzy]

I hate to do this, but the blog could use a jolt of electricity.

Did anyone ever eat square pan pizza at Luigi‘s at third Street and McDowell on the south east corner? That did it for me and is the template of my further excursions including San Francisco Chicago, Berkeley and Portland.

Even though this memory is almost 70years old yet got mine juices flowing as few other places have subsequently.

I have eaten several VIANCO pies, including those from his. At selling 0TC at the mall on Camelback.

Was I impressed? Well my brother and I had Margarita, Goodfellow, and Rosa. We chatted and before too long they were gone. I guess that says something. I must say that the focaccia at Pane Bianco on Central is transcendently the best I have ever had. I don’t know whether they can still use it in sandwiches, but it is great.

Please weigh in. This might be the shot in the G.I. system that this funky blog needs. I miss hearing from all of you. (that includes you too, SOLERI.,)

Yer dawgship

[dawgzy]

That’s Bianco pies

[Cal Lash]

I always get the
Nola Beans at The Macintosh restaurant
next door to Biancos at Town and Country.
I do miss Bob's Big Boy at Central and Thomas.
Four on the floor.
Shift baby shift.
PS, Jon Sellars died recently. He was Americas great Dirt track motorcyclist. Jon worked off Duty at Bob's. He was the cop who wrote me my first ticket. He was the lead detective in the murder of Reporter Don Bolles.
And Jon was my friend.
I recently picked up signed copies at the Poison Pen bookstore of the Novel depicting the Bolles murder, BOMBSHELTER.
Written by the Famous ambulance driver,
JON TALTON!

[Cal Lash]

Note: I'm having coffee with other admirers of Rouge Columnist at the Otro coffee location on Saturday at 1330 hours.
Be my guest.

[AzRebel]

Coach walks out to the mound. "Biden, give me the ball, hit the showers. I'm going to have to bring in a reliever to finish the game."

[Cal Lash]

Joe Biden would likeky worked as a clerk in a post office if not for Jimmy Hoffa and the Russell Bufalino crime family.
Up to home plate is the spiritual aggression kooks and the Russian Mafia. Prepare to get on your knees for a Haircut.

[AzRebel]

Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit!

Dawgzy's message just hit me right between the eyes.

He's telling us that since this blog is DOA with it's "supposed followers" of years past, we should turn it into a food/restaurant blog.

I get it. Everyone loves to talk about food.

At our local steak house up here a filet mignon now costs $45. It's about 3 inches in diameter. My wife always gets it for lunch. Add a little alcohol and our lunches usually run about $120 with tip. For lunch?

I read on the Goggle machine that certain countries are going to start taxing cow farts. It would follow that the cost of the filet is going to go up.

Check Please!

[Cal Lash]

Your wifes a cannibal?

[Cal Lash]

Ps, cows are illegal immigrants.

[Cal Lash]

Coffee and is now at 1100 not 1330

[Cal Lash]

On 062924 at 1100 hours an unofficial grouping of Rogue Columnist readers met at Otro Coffee shop.
Present were two attorneys, an engineer, a Jesuit trained English Major with three (3) degrees and a very old gone to seed gangster.
A clashing of coffee cups acknowledged the Gifted Jon Talton.
A good time was had by all.

[Chris Thomas]

The minutes of the meeting reflect that a motion was made that Jon resume writing. The motion passed unanimously.

[Cal Lash]

Here here!

[Ruben]

He’s busy rewriting the ending of his last book.

[Cal Lash]

The Future is past."
"ON THE BEND
I WILL SEE IT."
CC BOWDEN

[AzRebel]

Things are getting pretty crazy out there. The ultimate result of allowing our two political parties to become so corrupt that they exist only to corral power. No agenda, no philosophy, no morals, no direction. Just power.

Picture a grand, stately tree with three strong branches.

The branches have rotted away and have fallen on the ground. The branches are now home to vermin, helping to decompose the fiber of our country.

It's crazy time.

President is king. Immune.

Silly ideas in the media. Have Biden order (officially) Seal Team six to kill Trump.

So silly. So amateurish.

Better yet, order (officially)about three F-35's to track a plane with TRUMP written on the side and bring it down in an out of the way area of the country. Put out a press release, "well, what did you expect, it's a Boeing airplane." Darn those folks at Boeing.

It's a crazy time.

[Bike Hermit]

Pretty dark, but true. Glad you're still writing. Who even blogs anymore? Keep it up, please.