A Sociological Eye

  The last institutional barrier between us and the presidential narcissist who would be emperor is falling. It’s going to be up to us to stand up. Here’s your overview: the federal government has three branches that are supposed to serve as checks and balances to ensure the U.S. never has a king. Congress is supposed to make the laws, the president enforce them, and the courts rule on the constitutionality and legality of the actions of the first two branches. Our current self-worshipping president and his awful clown car of minions have decided that they get to make the laws, and can use them to stomp on all of their declared enemies. Whatever existing laws they don't like, they ignore. Who's going to stop them? Well, Congress is supposed to do that. But the Republicans who hold the slim majority either worship their Great Leader, or imagine they are slyly using him, or are terrified that if they don't bend to his every whim, his followers--their voters--will descend on t...

  Credit for this familiar image goes to KC Green. The Orange Man has yet to take office, but already it feels like everything is on fire. So I am here to remind you what to do! Remember: this chaotic spew of announcements and speculations is intentional. It is called "flooding the zone with sh*t." The theory goes that setting multiple things on fire, day after day, will have the following effects:  1. It will paralyze a sector of the populace, who won't know which fire to put out first, and will just freeze, going, "I can't believe this is happening!" 2. It will divide and conquer those being attacked, because they will each want the fire at their house to be put out first, and will have screaming fights over priorities while everything burns. 3. It will make a whole swath of people act like mythic ostriches and shove their heads in the sand, singing "La la la, everything's fine! If I don't see the news, it can't hurt me!" 4. It will s...