The Great Conjunction-Junction; or, What is The Insurrection’s Function?
THE GREAT CONJUNCTION! In mid December, an alignment of Jupiter and Saturn that happens about every 25 years and is said to herald great portends and things and what-not, happened. This was the event which opened the doors/curtains to the Black Lodge in Season 2 of Twin Peaks.
Come January and we’re still stuck in lockdown. Americans got $600 to gird them against 10 months of job loss/depleted savings (although lots of people still haven’t gotten their checks). Larry Summers and a bunch of plutocrats said that giving $2,000 or above might ‘overheat the economy’. The Democrats could have followed Bernie Sanders’ lead and used what leverage they had to force the issue back in December (hold up the vote on the defense bill in the Senate), but most refused to do this. They voted for the defense bill, took a victory lap for the previous $600, and went home for the holidays.
President-Elect Joe Biden said that if we ‘vote for blue’ in the Georgia Senate races, the ‘$2000 would be sent right out.’ Well, the Blue won both Senate seats and now Joe Biden is clarifying that he meant $2,000 total. So, a $1,400 check may be coming ($1,400 + $600). Maybe. Now that Blue Dog Big Dawg Democrat Joe Manchin is the deciding vote on everything, expect new and exciting means-testing stipulations to be attached. When all is said and done, we’ll be lucky if we end up getting a small tax credit.
(Ask your parents)
NOT MUCH ELSE HAPPENED RECENTLY EXCEPT OH WAIT THE GREAT INSURRECTION wherein a bunch of violent, psychopathic QANON cultists stormed into a suspiciously under-guarded Capitol building, hoping to “stop the steal” (i.e. the legal certification of the electors’ votes).
They killed a police officer with a fire extinguisher, smeared some feces in the hallway, raided various democratic Congressional offices, tried to murder Mike Pence, and *allegedly* stole AOC’s shoes (allegedly). Some of the police fought for their lives defending the building, while others posed for selfies and helped the rioters out. Some of the rioters were cops themselves. After lingering around for awhile, the MAGA mob was pretty much all allowed to leave (except for the people who had heart attacks and the woman who was shot in the chest by secret service after being allowed to enter the area by police).
This event is:
A) The greatest crime ever perpetrated against the United States. A day of infamy up there with Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and the Day I Was Scheduled to Work at the Bookstore When Harry Potter 4 Came Out.
B) Not really a big deal. The Capitol is already a fell and profane place. The real danger is that this will be used by police state advocates to clamp down on civil liberties and prosecute Leftists, as though this is not already happening.
C) Could have been worse. They killed a cop and terrorized Congress and destroyed a profaned of the nation’s power, but it’s not like they burned a Target or anything.
D) A mixed bag. The good stuff was MAGA. The bad stuff was Antifa.
DEKOTORA is a strange and surprising subculture in Japan’s trucker community, wherein drivers bling their vehicles out something crazy. It speaks to their love of robots.
KULTURE KORNER: Here now are some of the Best Things I consumed in 2020. MOst of which did not come out this year. Lockdown brought me a lot of mediocre films, waaaaay too much TV, and not as many books as I should have read. This was the year of passive mediums. You may enjoy these, or not. I didn’t make them. What am I, your doctor?
FILM: My Octopus Teacher, High Life, Only Lovers Alive, Uncut Gems, Millennium Actress
TeeVee: Dark, Counterpart, Harleigh-Quinn, Babylon Berlin, The Expanse, The Deuce, Altes Geld
BOOKS: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke; Kafka at the Shore by Murakami; Providence by Alan Moore;
GAMES: Hades
REGRETS: I’ve had a few.
(Beyond that, you don’t need me to sum up the recent atrocities any more than I already have. You know the score. The richest and most powerful people in the world all got their COVID vaccines already, presenting this in the media as an act of physical courage designed to encourage the public to get theirs… which may not be available until next Summer. This is a preview of the world of global warming, as feckless elites insulate themselves from the fallout of their own actions, all the while telling you that A) things are fine or B) any problems that exist could be solved by punishing poor people and immigrants. Maybe 2021 is the year that people will have had enough?
ha ha, not likely! The only people likely to make a stink about anything seem to be angry, middle-aged whites with guns. Neoliberalism has finally come calling, the Empire has come home, and being white is no longer enough to guarantee a decent life. Some people are very mad about this! The rest of us have been instructed to debate whether or not the minimum wage is too high, and if higher education is really something that everyone needs to have in order to be useful to the donor class.)
Welcome to the New Year!
