We avoided a war for Greenland.  I guess.  The most nonsensical imperial mission imaginable, it ignores that we have been effectively a soft imperial power there in that our government has everything they possibly want in military base and any mineral extraction contracts and if by some crazy reason they’d want more — which there is no reason they would and it would be an unprofitable burden and venture — it could be had for the asking — except for some stupid reason Trump got it in his head that it would be neat to have Greenland.  And off of that we have mainstream and conservative coverage on the Greenland issue as though there is something sane at stake here, rational US actors, great geopolitical concerns in power politics (Russia may want to do something with Greenland, even as… they are the first signees for Trump’s “NATO circumventing and bulldoze Gaza to open up hotels” Board of Peace, so I don’t know what they are.).  We can mark this week as that where the price of electing Trump twice hit on the world stage, as opposed to what we have domestically.  I would like to think a weakened power position has its opportunities for finally limiting American reach — except there this aggression just turns inward — and so it is, ICE thuggery galore, federal government brazen in keeping up the lies.

I suppose we ought all read Hillbilly Elegy to get some sense of the next president — Trump is where everyone thinks Biden was, except malignant so. I always imagine opening up the alternate universes, to see which one at the outset of 2024 keeps us from President Trump, which action from Biden, which nominating decision from the Democrats. I hoped Biden could take his final vow shortly after his State of the Union address — I had him following a new variant Chester Arthur model in keeping up the campaign as it is the only way to govern but pulling the ripcord. From there, I have no idea if Kamala Harris with an extra few months’ could do anything or if we have to skip to Andy Beshear or forced to skip to a Dwayne Johnson. The last redoubt for an alternate universe, and one that is highly doubtful but strokes the line by Allan Lichtman and those “keys” — Biden runs… The logic swirls, America gets confronted by the specter, Biden’s doddering old age serves in the roundabout way to bring us over to Trump’s doddering old age — and now you have clarification — two versions of doddering to choose from, and look into instead of passing it off as a Don Rickels routine that entertains on election day.

The state of Fox News, and sure you skip and hop off there off to Newsmax and OANN for a further nausea, but keeping to Fox News as the central Republican clearinghouse. And in the days of Trump, this gets especially loopy. I could always paint the picture of the hidey-holes and rationalizations and re-directions for ICE’s presence in Minneapolis — Sean Hannity’s cameraman reporter chases a protester (thankfully a well-spoken one) and finds his bottom line question — “you don’t think we should not apprehend illegal immigrants?” — a matter I am more agnostic on than most of the protesters but which is a question thoroughly irrelevant to this situation at hand. Or… same saying as the argument on illegal immigration… “a right way, and a wrong way”.

But if I basically know what all that works out to — and somewhere looming is a celebration of Bill Maher and any other celebrity that makes enough a “both sider” balance of politics as you see MSNow spotlight Joe Rogan.

Curious as you move off of this story and onto some things that are not even in the realm of moving further on issues and positions moved into the mainstream for decades. What is really freaky, and bizarre, and loopy, is seeing the Republican mouthpiece of Fox News keeping a straight face and not missing a beat in describing Trump administration and calls on getting Greenland. As though nothing is abnormal or utterly bizarre about this. And it is a straight-way story, nothing odd about it.

I feel like I need to check back in with Matt Taibbi– that Glen Glenwald type who soft-pedals the crimes of President Trump because he has a hankering to get after the Deep State. There are two things I am curious to hear. One is to see how much his co-host, Walter Kirn, is gloating on the downfall of Tim Walz, who overall was the most pointless Democratic vice presidential nominee since John Edwards. (Can he sway a half dozen old white dudes in exurban Michigan? Nope!) Kirk had a particular hashing on Walz, which is fair and reasonable enough, but he tended to give his particular game away in comparing his political type in history and throwing out the name Gus Hall. The thing on Walz is I barely can concern myself to notice it look into the matter — his is a political governing style that may be prone to lose sight of details, and the mess of covid is something you would want to give leeway for inevitable mis-choices. Of course, the major lure on the right-wing podcasting YouTube guest to the white house to discuss righteousness of ICE guy who did the expose is “Somalis!”, and this — whatever our story is in looking in– gives him a thing to point at to show credibility of his next thing is incredulous — see, “stop the steal”.

The bigger question on Matt Taibbi comes to our new actions on Venezuela. Taibbi comes out of his constant ragging on the Bush Administration in the “War on Terror” and Iraq and keeping it in through the Obama Administration, always a bit flowing with his drone strikes. So Trump’s isolationist posturing gets him to some spot of basic support — as he allows for the fight for the civil liberties of Tulsi Gabbard and fights Ukraine’s propaganda machine. Welcome now to the nakedly imperialist war with Venezuela, the capture of Maduro and the blunt discussion of capturing oil. I know there will be a rationalizing of this for something which, given his historical positioning, should be nothing short of outrage. I imagine just packs of what-aboutisms and a look see over at a new love of concepts of the Monroe Doctrine. Maybe it is just double down on reminding everyone that the Cheneys backed Harris afterall.

I end up seeing few tv commercials this day and age, but when I catch a thing I have to somewhat examine it.  This is on a football game.  Now, in football we have moved from a dominating number of ads for male impotence drugs to gambling — the legal barriers for gambling ads have fallen and this is what we have tied to sportsball showings.  

The ad I catch and watch i, predictably, am not entirely what is for.  Like, chip dip I am assuming.  It is three people in a couch.  A white woman, two guys — one seems to be gay, the other I hate to point as black but in casting a scene I know they made a mental decision for diversity.  The voice -over, “when you are watching the game with your boyfriend who knows nothing about football.”. The fey gay guy makes a couple comments — “what a fantastic looking fumble!” and I don’t know – – I guess the white woman and black man reach for the chip dip to absolve the embarrassment of whatever.

In some prior year, we may have some kind of joke applied toward sports-ignorant woman, trying too hard to be into it for the guy, and maybe we still may pluck that in if we can get It to be somewhat effacing to the man.  Today I guess we can really do that gag if it is applied to an effeminate man?  But on this commercial I am stuck on a question — are they hedging, leave up a plausible deniability for assumption on parts of the audience for who the boyfriend is the boyfriend of, even though — hm.