Category: Liberal Rants

Thoughtful posts on why the neopaleolithic viewpoint, while perhaps valid for its adherents, is yet not the way I want my country run.

Don’t make it an ‘us’ problem

Posted on by Dale

In her column today, Heather Cox Richardson examines DOGE, NASA, FAA, and Musk and how they’re destroying — I almost used “disrupting,” but no, it’s destruction —as much of our government as they can.

One sentence jumped out at me. After being fined over $600,000 by the FAA for “safety and environmental regulations,” Musk whined,  “The fundamental problem is that humanity will forever be confined to Earth unless there is radical reform at the FAA!”

No, Musk-Boy, the “fundamental problem” is that technocrats like you think that protecting our home here on Earth is “unreasonable and exasperating” and that those regulations “undercut American industry’s ability to innovate.” Get over it: only you and your little DOGE boys think that it is necessary to pollute our planet in order to escape the eventual death of the sun… in 5 billion years.

Here, have a picture.

This is 1 billion years, depicted as a 10×10 grid of 100 squares. That means that each square = 10 MILLION years. See that tiny little red dot in the upper left corner?

That red dot is one  pixel, far too large to  represent the majority of human history of 300,000 years. It should be .00003 of that little square (3/10,000ths!).

See, the math is already beyond our ability to grasp with our monkey brains.

So that one square is 1 billion years. Musk wants us to rape our planet so that he and his Muskyteers can flee to Mars before the sun explodes in 5 billion years.

So this demented creature has created this fairy tale in his head that he is the one genius who can lead us to a glorious future… on a completely inhospitable planet that we don’t really have a way to get to — only 12 humans have ever even been to the moon — and the project will just go swimmingly if we the people would just stop making him follow the rules, stop littering space with satellites that are designed to have a short lifespan so he can make more money launching more, stop subverting safety regulations so his trucks can explode without government interference, stop firing federal employees who rein him in and shutting down investigations into his businesses on all fronts.

Someone should stop him.

—————

UPDATE: Jeff Tiedrich, in his weekly The Week in Stupid column, pointed out a simple fact that I am embarrassed to admit I hadn’t thought of: When the sun goes and obliterates the poor fools who were so foolish as to ignore the GENIUS of MUSK KENNETH, it’s taking Mars with it as well. Duh.

Easy Answers: Parade or nah?

Posted on by Dale

My email to my congresscritter Brian Jack this morning:

I know you are deeply committed to the “president’s agenda,” but surely even you can see that the Pennsylvania Ave birthday parade is not only a huge waste of money but also a finger in the eye to anyone who believes that the U.S. is not ruled by a tinpot dictator.

Question: Have you done anything to dissuade the Current Regime from doing this or introduced legislation to stop it? Do you still believe that Congress controls the purse strings?

Thank you for your assistance in my “Easy Answers” blog series, where I will post any reply you send me.

Hope the office organization is going well.

He stopped sending out the boilerplate emails claiming he’s been busy getting his office organized (months after the election). My past couple of emails he hasn’t replied at all.

Got it? He’s not obligated in any way to consider his constituents’ feedback.

Which tracks for the kind of man he is.

But wait, you say, aren’t you being unfair, Dale? Your emails to him are nothing more than provocations about the incompetence/evil of his Republixanazi Party. You’re taunting him. You’re a liberal, and do not support him. You didn’t even know he was the White House political director for Turmp I until after he was elected because you didn’t need to know anything about him other than he was “ENDORSED BY TRUMP.”

Yes, and?

He is still honor-bound to represent me in Congress.

Here’s a pro tip

Posted on by Dale

Context: The Republican Regime’s plans to impose worldwide-economy-destroying tariffs on our economy. Turmp himself said, ‘“I’m just saying they don’t need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five,” Trump said, acknowledging the prices of such items could also go up.’

I don’t know about you, but this kind of thing makes parts of my brain fall off. In what part of America is this supposed to be an encouraging message?? I find it incredible — in its original sense of ‘unbelievable’ — that Bessent would go on Fox News (even) and say such a thing.

However, here’s my pro tip: Believe him — because he believes it. HE HAS NEVER HAD TO TELL A CHILD THEY WEREN’T GETTING CHRISTMAS.  He’s a deep-dyed Puritan: life must be earned; food, clothing, shelter, all must be earned. If you don’t have them, you’re being punished by a benevolent deity and you deserve it.

Scott Bessent believes this with all his heart because, as a centimillionaire, he has no idea what real life is like for us peons. It’s like “Let them eat cake,” only the reverse of that: “Let them have less cake!” (Or as Dmitri Shostakovich put it in his biography Testimony, the message of the last movement of his iconic Symphony No. 5 was claimed to be “triumphant joy,” but he said it was “‘actually… clear to everyone what happens in the Fifth.  The rejoicing is forced, created under threat, as in Boris Godunov.  It’s as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, ‘Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing,’ and you rise, shaky, and go marching off, muttering, ‘Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing.'”)

So of course Bessent has no moral qualms about advising parents to lecture their children about having a better life through having your childhood dreams stomped into a bloody, pulsating pulp. As far as he’s concerned, that’s Life.

(But if you asked him to specify how the little girl’s life would be better for it, you’d get nothing but facile generalities.)

P.S. My blog post about Shostakovich’s Fifth and other works has some serious warnings for us today.

Public Enemies! Public Enemies Everywhere!

Posted on by Dale

You may have read, a couple of weeks ago, about how our mighty macho warfighters at the Department of Defense banned dangerous books from their overseas school libraries.

You might suppose, if you are of a proper turn of mind, that maybe the Pentagon had become concerned about our troops (who have after all volunteered to have themselves molded into mighty macho warfighters and are thus very impressionable) and were removing books by Andrew Tate, Mike Cernovich, Jack Posobiec, or Paul Joseph Watson so that our guys won’t grow up to be pig-ignorant, violent, men’s-rights knuckledraggers.

But alas, this is what keeps Pete Hegseth up at night:

(Yes, that Julianne Moore.)

You can see why the Pentagon wanted to set this book on fire.

No, really:

“The single dumbest phrase in military history is ‘our diversity is our strength,’” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at an employee town hall at the Pentagon on Friday. “It served a purpose of dividing the force.” [from Wonkette’s always-exciting report]

Oh, you think the current Secretary of Defense is over-reacting? Just take a look here:

Can you imagine our warfighters, or — gasp! — their children,[1] being subjected to this gag-a-maggot display of… DIVERSITY, KENNETH???

Somehow the U.S. that made movies about our boys in the trenches and always included a diverse American squad hunkering down on the battlefield — and having each other’s backs — has become this whiny, insecure, hateful reflection of the Republixanazi Party.

As for me, I immediately ordered the book, and such was the demand for this satanic children’s book that it took nearly a month to be printed and arrive.

At least our soldiers are protected from… other people?

—————

[1] The children KENNETH!!

This Easy Question should be a no-brainer.

Posted on by Dale

Well, it should be a no-brainer, but we are dealing with supremely evil people.

My email to my Republixanazi congresscritter, Brian Jack. We all know that he’s still working on getting his office organized (though for my last email to him I didn’t even get the boilerplate “I’m still organizing my office five months after the election” email), but maybe, just maybe he’s as appalled as decent people over the outrageous ICE kidnappings.

Your administration is now disappearing people from off the streets, smashing their car windows and pulling them out, whisking them away to secret prisons without regard to due process or even decency. Your Gestapo won’t even show their faces, hiding behind masks as they continue to imprison innocent people.

How do I know they’re innocent? Because they haven’t been given a trial, and until they are convicted in a court of law they are — stop me if you’ve heard this one before — INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. That’s the bottom line, Brian Jack, and my understanding of your political makeup leads me to believe that you fully support the Nazis as they dismantle our legal system.

My question for you today is: Do you in fact support the Nazis as they dismantle our legal system? What are you doing to pressure the Nazis to free Kilmar Abrego Garcia, for example?

I’ll be posting your response to this over at dalelyles.com — I do notice that you haven’t replied to my earlier emails, so the presumption of Nazi sensibilities will stand until you issue a statement condemning the overreach of ICE and the current administration.

Just curious, have you ever read much about Robespierre?

Who knows, maybe Brian Jack has a conscience?

About that “Ponzi scheme”

Posted on by Dale

Members of our fascist party have taken to describing Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme,” attempting thereby to create the impression in the brains of amygdala-based lifeforms that it’s a scam and we need to “reform” it, by which they mean “destroy it.”

This has been a fever dream of our Republixanazi Party since Social Security was implemented 90 years ago. For some reason they cannot comprehend that providing a small sum for the elderly, the disabled, and the orphans is actually a good thing and can mean the difference between barely sustainable living conditions and absolute misery.

So let’s talk about their metaphor. Is Social Security a Ponzi scheme?

No. It is not. A Ponzi scheme is designed from the very outset to cheat its investors. Those at the bottom of the pyramid pay into the system, but they never see a return on their “investment” because it’s all a scam, remember? Only the rich assholes engineering the scam ever see any money out of it.

This is prima facie not how Social Security works. It’s not how it was intended to work. It intended to use the tax revenue from current workers to provide a monthly check to retired workers (and/or their dependents).

Yes, it is true that you — as an individual — do not “get back” the money you paid in. That money has already been spent to help others, and now others are paying to support you.

Is the system in trouble? A bit, and for the moment we will ignore the fact that Congress fupped over Social Security by raiding its bank account and never paying that money back. (Talk about Ponzi schemes!)

If the system is in trouble, you might think that smart people would examine the issues and come up with a solution. Indeed, many people have suggested several approaches to the problem, like here and here. As you will see if you click through, no solution is without its own problems — but they are solutions.

So the question arises, why is our Republixanazi Party  — if they’re so concerned that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme — not pursuing solutions?

(Answer key: Because they want to kill it and suck up your money through actual Ponzi schemes like the stock market.)

One more comment: Our Republixanazi Party sneeringly describes Social Security as an “entitlement,” playing with the pejorative sense of “entitled” to make us feel dirty about accepting these funds. The fact is, though, that we are in fact entitled to those funds; they are an earned benefit. We earned them. We are entitled to them.

Do not let the fascists lie to you. Resist.

Can you “deport” U.S. citizens?

Posted on by Dale

Yesterday, Karoline Leavitt, aka Fascist Barbie, aka White House Press Secretary, allowed as how the Current Administration is looking at ways to “‘deport’ U.S. citizens to El Salvador.”

Just like all those vicious criminal immigrants we recently kidnapped and send to a concentration camp in El Salvador, these U.S. citizens would apparently be snatched off the street and hustled into some black holding tank before being sold to the slavers in Central America.

You will notice that nowhere in the process are these citizens given their due process rights: knowing what they’re charged with, having a free and fair jury trial, and above all, having the chance to state their innocence while the government has to prove their criminality.

You will also notice that we deprived the deported immigrants of those same rights, assigned by the Fifth Amendment to every “Person” in the country.

So yes, it’s a little concerning when the Current Administration admits it wants to do the same thing to citizens.

Important point: You cannot “deport” a citizen. What is this, “The Man Without a Country“?

And so I sent my Republixanazi congresscritter, Brian Jack, an Easy Question:

Karoline Leavitt, as part of her official duties, confirmed yesterday that your administration is planning to “deport” U.S. citizens to El Salvador.

I must assume that you, as a member of this administration, support this criminal attack on due process. If not, just say so and I’ll publish that on my blog.

How’s that office organization going? It’s only been 153 days since the election.

I’ll publish any answer he sends me.

 

Easy Answers redux

Posted on by Dale

I am re-upping my Easy Answers series, wherein I ask my elected congresscritter a very easy question and then report on any answer they might give.

Today: https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2025/03/17/navajo-code-talkers-trump-dei-military-websites-wwii

I emailed my Republixanazi congresscritter, Brian Jack, and asked this easy question: Do you support this brute Stalinesque purge of our nation’s history?

It’s a simple yes or no question, right?

You should know up front that it has been 131 days since Nov 6, 2024, and so far this is the only email response I have ever gotten from Rep. Jack:

Dear Friend,

Thank you for contacting me and taking the time to share your thoughts on this important matter.

As my office gets up and running, I will be sure to send you a more detailed response. I simply wanted you to know that your opinion has been noted and your voice has been heard.

It is a great honor to serve as your Representative in Washington, DC. I am humbled to take on this responsibility and look forward to serving our great state and Nation to the best of my abilities. To better stay in touch, please sign up to receive my e-newsletter through my website.

Sincerely,
Brian Jack
Member of Congress

131 days, and his office is still not fully functional. Maybe DOGGIE should look at the government efficiency on Capitol Hill.

At any rate, I will post any real response here. I don’t expect to get a real response, just some pusillanimous bullshit about tHe PrEsiDeNt’S AnTi-dEi racist policies, as if they are valid or in any way a good thing for our country.[1]

—————

[1] They are in fact neither valid nor good in any way for our country.

All the good things

Posted on by Dale

First, allow me to deeply apologize for not blogging our recent trip to Egypt. I intended to, but beyond the usual spotty wifi aboard a Viking River Cruise (otherwise flawless other than the lack of bitters at the bar), the trip was an absolute slog. Maybe I’ll share some details later. Maybe.

Second, I discovered a new presence for the labyrinth: Meet Bes, the Egyptian god of the household.

This jaunty little fellow is depicted with squat, bow legs; cat ears; protruding tongue; and, naturally, erect phallus.

From his Wikipedia post: Bes was the ancient Egyptian god who protected households, particularly mothers, children, and childbirth. He came to be regarded as the defender of everything good and the enemy of all that is bad, and since he drove off evil, Bes also came to symbolize the good things in life – music, dance, and sexual pleasure.

It occurred to me almost immediately that we need Bes, since we are now facing an overwhelming evil in our nation, and who better to bring along to defend us than the defender of everything good? And so…

I’m thinking I’m going to whip up some t-shirts and other merch over at my Lichtenbergian shop at CafePress, because nothing drives the theocrats crazier than people having fun and doing good right in front of them. As H.L. Mencken said, “Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”

The fact that it mocks the previous lame-ass “initiative” of one or more family members returning to our White House next week is icing on the deliciously snarky cake.

Stay tuned.

update: Ta-da! https://www.cafepress.com/shop/Lichtenbergianism

Rant: This is why we can’t have nice things

Posted on by Dale

Today over at the faceplace — and for over a week now — people have been posting memes/screenshots about our country’s piss-poor, for-profit healthcare system. Today a friend posted this screenshot:

And then someone she knows — not anyone I know — posted this:

This is breathtaking in its heartless, deliberately insulated opinion. (The author is CEO of his own capital company, so that’s our frame of reference.) Let’s dismantle it, shall we?

Right off the bat, the name-calling. Oooh, SOCIALAMISM, KENNETH!! The scary bugaboo shibboleth of every rich shithead ever. It’s not the insult you think it is, asshole.

Sure, it sucks that these people blew their savings to try to prolong her life. I mean, who does such a thing?? The asshole’s sneering “I’m sorry” is completely warranted, I’m sure. After all, what other resolution to this tragedy could there possibly be (in this country THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WITH THE GREATEST HEALTHCARE IN THE WORLD EVEN)??

Then we get to the crux of the matter: Superior beings, those Masters of the Universe that the right wing is so anxious for us all to worship, plan their lives better, don’t they? I mean, they live healthy lives, so they never get cancer. That’s just common sense, right?

And even if they do, they’ve saved enough to get the medical attention they deserve, because they planned their lives better than those people. The poor people.

Then we close out with the sound of the point of the screenshot whooshing right over the asshole’s head: “If you want medical attention, you have to buy it from the person who spent their whole life to become a specialist and from a system that invested large amounts of capital that it borrowed from individual private investors to build the facilities and buy the equipment.”

I guess when capital is your only tool, then every problem is a profit/loss ratio problem opportunity, right?

Jebus H. Cthulhu, dude, you just posited the entire problem with our healthcare system as the way it should be. It never occurs to you, does it, that a multiverse is possible where we as a society, through our government and our taxes, will do the investing and building of our hospitals and clinics, and the whole concept of private investors recouping their investment with a profit of course what are you a socialist KENNETH? will die a silent death.

Kind of like the death he wishes on the lady in the screenshot.