#17. Apocalypse Potpourri
Welcome to the War of 2026 | Calling All Boomers | A Brief Detour to Transylvania | Back Despite Popular Demand
Welcome to the War of 2026
Wake up America! A master plan is unfolding and it doesn't include honoring the results of the next Congressional election.
A concerted attack on American democracy has been unleashed. You and I are the enemy and so far Donald Trump’s side is winning.
Their coup clock started ticking well before Trump’s re-election six months ago. And it’s certainly reasonable to wonder whether their target date for an actual assumption of national governing authority is going to be the aftermath of the mid-term Congressional elections on November 3, 2026. That’s 18 months away.
We are witnessing a brazen, live-action hostile takeover of democracy. The classic authoritarian playbook is being deployed with predatory zeal and a metamodern twist.
There is absolutely method in their madness. They are systematically attacking the very institutions most capable of holding them accountable.
Within the bureaucracy, specific leaders of the military and intelligence services are being pinpoint targeted. Meanwhile, coordinated pressure campaigns and offensives are being undertaken across civic America’s elite institutions, whether research universities, large law firms, scientific authorities, or the news media.
Speaking of the media, it doesn’t take a crystal ball to see where this may be heading. MSNBC is being spun off by its parent company. The corporate home of Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell et al. may be up for grabs.
And how about Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers or SNL? How untouchable will they be in a year or two, when CBS and NBC have pressing corporate regulatory issues pending before *this* Administration?
After all, it wasn't that long ago when John Mitchell, the attorney general of the United States, personally warned the Washington Post that its publisher, Katherine Graham, “gonna get her tit caught in a big fat wringer” if she kept pushing the Watergate story. Nixon himself specifically referenced the Post Corporation’s pending license renewals for several profitable television stations it owned in Florida, which required FCC approval.
So it goes around and it comes around. What are we going to do about it?
“We have months — not a year — before our democracy is rendered so damaged that it cannot be repaired.”
— US Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut
Calling All Boomers to One Last Rodeo
Do you still believe in magic, somewhere deep in your tarnished and disappointed soul? Do you occasionally, unexpectedly, savor pleasurable emotions of peace, love and understanding?
Then what are you waiting for, fellow Boomers? Our grandchildren’s futures are being fucked with! It’s time to stand up and be counted again!
Relatively speaking, we retired folk are likelier to have a little time on our hands, or maybe a small amount of money to offer.
Not only that, but as Joseph Campbell showed, there are reasons why indigenous peoples across time and place have revered the wisdom of their elders.
So anyway, it’s time to downshift the doomscrolling and suppress the chronic ennui. Dust off those old combat Birkenstocks and get fucking busy.
Seriously, what are we waiting for? It’s what my religious friends call doing the lord’s work. Nothing more and certainly nothing less.
FWIW my personal recommendations for investing your hard-earned time and money are moveon.org, swingleft.org and indivisible.org, who are all organizing on democracy’s front lines.
The View From Left Field: A Brief Detour to Transylvania
My most basic question about transexuality is simply whether or not I consider myself a member of that tribe.
It's a close call but I think not. I’m not there… but I can see there from here. And besides, what a fucking binary question!
I'm not a diehard CIS dude either, if I ever was. It's complicated, as psychosexual things tend to be. I have roots. I have shoots. I’m a horny fucking old boomer goat. That's me in a nutshell.
I have a hunch I'm not the only one experimenting and re-experimenting with gender late in life, when men aren’t even supposed to be able to get it up, let alone do anything with it.
Back Despite Popular Demand
Dear Readers: I have come back out of retirement. Thanks for your continued readership and support. -Art
Welcome back from retirement. You have been missed. Just be careful... committing an act of journalism, especially the way you seem to do it, might earn you an invitation to an all-inclusive South American resort.
Spot on, Art…and well written as usual. I hope many folks read and digest this information. We need to act…and quickly.