Desperation creates a sickening stench.
At least that seems to be the case with dying empires.
As the front pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post become more and more indistinguishable from puerile and poisonous publications like the National Inquirer, Daily News, Globe, and Weekly World News, we see the symptoms of a nation whose auto-immune system has stopped working, and no barriers any longer stand in the way of fantastic lies and the opportunistic diseases of exceptionalist self-absorption and kleptocratic abuse.
Much of what claims to be news puts spectacle and rumor ahead of fact and truth-telling.
Every day I scan the pages and websites of main stream media and nowhere can I find a discussion of truly critical issues, much less a serious attempt to address them with cogent, creative, promising solutions.
Yet, who am I to decide what is said and written.  Am I to tell a dying man that I find his death rattle annoying and counter-productive?
Having accepted the irrelevancy of my own opinion of the national conversation, we are still looking at a total retreat from journalistic integrity, an abandonment of responsibility vital to our survival as a nation, in fact, a complete surrender and servility to self-serving, corrupt leadership which acknowledges no allegiance or debt to those who put them into office, and driven by panic and desperation can only make excuses and offer distractions for its failure to serve the real interests of the country.
There is no other verdict any sane, aware, concerned person can come to.

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The rest of the world seems to have our number.  The U.S. pretends to be in charge but more and more we see one nation after another turning away.  And apparently citizens across our once-great country — regardless of whether they voted for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders or Gary Johnson or Jill Stein, or just stayed home out of disgust — will be the last to know that the U.S. is no longer a functioning democracy and has been completely taken over by fierce, ruthless, elitist, self-serving, corporate autocrats, and more fatefully we are being simultaneously prepared for major economic collapse and a global war which carries the ominous risk of extinction for the human race.
Moreover, the planet itself each day stands in silent but immutable judgment.
The Arctic is in crisis, evidence of catastrophic global heating.  The oceans are on their way to becoming vast sea creature graveyards.  Scientists have now concluded we are in the middle of another mass species extinction.  The world we now inhabit will go away and eventually become uninhabitable, both for humans and much of the life on the planet which we now take for granted.
Pathological levels of hubris, demagoguery, and megalomania have the major nations on hair-trigger alert, with the nuclear destructive power to destroy the world 25 to 50 times over, just a launch button away.  Most of this animosity stems from America’s inability to accept its place as one of a community of nations.  We will run things our way or destroy the entire world in a colossal temper tantrum.
With existential crises of an unprecedented and truly apocalyptic scale . . . let’s talk about hacking by the Russians.  Let’s talk about Trump’s potty mouth and dicey business deals.  Let’s form two massive groups — die-hard Hillary Clinton supporters and President-elect Donald Trump supporters — face off and scream at one another.  Let’s talk about Trump’s rumored man-love of Vladimir Putin and his pussy-grabbing — apparently he’s bisexual, since he can swing both ways.  Let’s spread the word!  After all . . .
Someone told someone else that when Putin and Trump aren’t butt-fucking, they’re scheming to take down the greatest country in the world.  Just as bad, when Hillary isn’t spreading state secrets across the world wide web like viral mannequin challenges, she’s running a child sex slave ring out of a DC pizzeria, to try to make a buck, while of course supplying fresh nubile flesh for Bill’s pedophilia parties.  We know this story is true, which is a big part of the reason many people didn’t vote for her, because someone mentioned it to Alex Jones and he subsequently devoted a lot of time to it on his show.  I love Alex’s voice, don’t you?
Of course, our whole electoral system is in crisis.  THANKS TO THE DAMN RUSSIANS!  Seventeen intel agencies told someone anonymously — or maybe someone told us that 17 intel agencies told them — the idea of hacking our elections is consistent with recognized priorities of Russia.  We don’t know which agencies suggested this.  It’s hard to know because at my last count there were 1,271 government organizations responsible for national security.  Out of these, 500 could easily be considered “intel agencies”.  Hmm . . . 17 out of 500.  That seems odd, eh?  Whatever.  Those Russians are always up to no good.  Especially the Bolshoi Ballet and Tchaikovsky.  And Tolstoy!
Then there’s the whole Electoral College mess.  Hard to believe that we didn’t notice.  But apparently the electoral college’s potential to not represent the express will of the voting public — sometimes referred to by the rich and powerful elite who occasionally take a break from plundering the Treasury and devising more effective means of maintaining full control over the machinery of government and even our pathetic personal lives to elbow each other in the ribs and snicker about the “slobbering masses” — has been secreted in Article II of our venerated Constitution now for over 227 years.  Sure, they’ll claim it was there the whole time.  But they put it in Article II, and let’s face it, most of us never got past reading the Preamble, much less Article I.  Anyway, better late than never.
Now we know that whether you love him or hate him, Trump was right!  Yes, the system is rigged!  Therefore it’s time for some real effective action.  Let’s start a petition!  No way can let that pussy-grabbing scumbag be president over some technicality in the Constitution probably put in there by the slimy Russians.  We should have our first female president, who despite having ovaries and a pussy — which Trump probably tried to grab! — is tough as nails and will hit the ground running by starting World War III with either Iran, Russia, or China.  Maybe all three!  Talk about macho!
Granted, a lot of this seems to miss the big picture questions, which are . . .
Why did we have to choose only between Hillary and Donald?
Or . . .
Why is it no matter who we elect, everything just gets worse?
Or . . .
What’s the point of representative government if the people we elect don’t represent us?
Or . . .
How can it be called choice when both of the two major political parties just put people up for election who serve the interests of the wealthy, who promote war, who can’t find it in their hearts or in our national budget to provide the basic services and necessities which many other nations across the globe take for granted?
Then again . . .
Those kinds of questions are really really difficult.
Solving those problems requires radical reform and profound systemic changes.
It would be very embarrassing to admit to the world that our democracy is in big trouble.
Addressing those challenges takes a lot of hard work and time which most of us don’t have.
Having a government which serves everyday citizens is sure to piss off the Koch brothers!
Isn’t it more convenient to ask questions which are more likely to get answered?
Like . . . is or was Dick Cheney ever a robot?
You know, folks, I suspected something like this all along.  I even wrote a blog about it.
Deep-State Doppelgängers
See?  I’m on top of the news!

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