Unlike others growing up in what Annie Dillard calls “American Peace and Plenty” I was enormously confused as a child by the astonishing gap between rulers and ruled. My father subscribed to a few news magazines and a literary book digest publishing long excerpts from new books. I remember reading excerpts of Speer’s Spandau Diaries which interested me enormously since I had read Rise and Fall of the Third Reich already and a book on the SS State. I recall very well my opinion of the USA in 1968 when I was 11. I was always thinking of Weimar.
As a child and sadly even today I did not understand that people dodge responsibility. The felt attitude is you can’t fight City Hall or Sacramento or D.C. Only an ass would butt heads with the bureaucracy who never is allowed to lose. An idiot, me, in their “golden years” smirks like a Socrates on Nob Hill—-”How many things in the world I do not need!” I even doubt that which I do need in 5 years will not be possible to have unless I stop needing things I think essential. I cannot envision paying rent when moving year by year from $900 in 2024 to $1800 in 2030 more or less as landlord is legally restrained in increased rent. A few friends opted for Sr. Living in their mid-70’s however as we know everything is different in 2024. I was greatly entertained that one HUD Sr. Living facility in Sacramento my 76 year young friend wishes to move into demands residents sit to dine in common 7 days a week-maybe HUD money I don’t know. I laughed loud. “I said Taking attendance eh. Can’t have a vaccinated senior croak and some substitute take their place!”
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-budget-deficit-soars-50-crushing-estimates-fiscal-collapse-under-biden-accelerates
And look, MOAR spendin’. Reuters and VOA are reporting that US and UK warplanes have begin striking Houthi targets in Yemen, in what marks the first major regional expansion of the Gaza war. According to Politico:
The U.S. and U.K, with support from Australia, the Netherlands, Bahrain, and Canada, conducted joint strikes tonight against Houthi targets in Yemen, per DOD official. Strikes involved U.S. aircraft, ships and submarines.
The Telegraph has also reported British fighters and ships are participating in the military action against the Houthis. There are incoming reports of large airstrikes in major Yemeni cities. Unverified videos have begun coming in via social media.
Ko-fi.com/thejournaloflingeringsanity
DISCLAIMER: The Journal of Lingering Sanity is a reader-supported publication from Old Gold Mountain (Chinese: 旧金山. We are beholden to truth not party. “The time has come," the Journal said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax— Of cabbages—and kings— And why the sea is boiling hot— And whether pigs have wings."
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/criminality-white-house-rise-political-psychopath
Once psychopaths gain power, the result is usually some form of totalitarian government or a pathocracy. “At that point, the government operates against the interests of its own people except for favoring certain groups,” author James G. Long notes. “We are currently witnessing deliberate polarizations of American citizens, illegal actions, and massive and needless acquisition of debt. This is typical of psychopathic systems, and very similar things happened in the Soviet Union as it overextended and collapsed.”
In other words, electing a psychopath to public office is tantamount to national hara-kiri, the ritualized act of self-annihilation, self-destruction and suicide. It signals the demise of democratic government and lays the groundwork for a totalitarian regime that is legalistic, militaristic, inflexible, intolerant and inhuman.
Incredibly, despite clear evidence of the damage that has already been inflicted on our nation and its citizens by a psychopathic government, voters continue to elect psychopaths to positions of power and influence.
Indeed, a study from Southern Methodist University found that Washington, DC—our nation's capital and the seat of power for our so-called representatives—ranks highest on the list of regions that are populated by psychopaths.
According to investigative journalist Zack Beauchamp, “In 2012, a group of psychologists evaluated every President from Washington to Bush II using ‘psychopathy trait estimates derived from personality data completed by historical experts on each president.’ They found that presidents tended to have the psychopath’s characteristic fearlessness and low anxiety levels — traits that appear to help Presidents, but also might cause them to make reckless decisions that hurt other people’s lives.”