The demented leader gets briefed with a boom boom video each day. The demented leader is confused as to why reality has not submitted to boom boom yet.

What will it take to drop the pretense that this is a man in control of his cognitive faculties? When will they accurately describe this situation as one in which one of the most powerful political offices in the world is occupied by a demented narcissist who has lost all contact with reality?

Weil eh nix hilft außer widerständiger Albernheit: Dan Reeders "I Drink Beer" und Afromans Update der Battle Hymn of the Republic in Dauerschleife.

Meistertrollerei: Lass mal einen schlimmen Mann (den man eh zu nix befragen sollte) zu einem (mutmaßlich) noch viel schlimmeren Mann befragen.

Das wären dann die "Jokergleise", die man über Jahrzehnte zurückgebaut hat?

I don't have anything to say about Habermas, but my flabber has been gasted by the edgy "leftist" takes I've seen since his passing. And this morning I was reminded of a nasty review I wrote about a nasty, nasty book (Roberto Esposito's A Philosophy For Europe) seven years ago.

This also goes for other cult leaders and many so-called public intellectuals: to break the spell, it might help to not always reflexively look for meaning where there is none.

DLF-Presseschau heute morgen: zur Wahl am Weltfrauentag echauffieren sich mehrere Zeitungen darüber, dass man Manuel Hagel Aussagen von vor acht Jahren vorhält - das sei eine Petitesse. Frauenverachtung als Nebensächlichkeit: das hat sich in den letzten acht Jahren jedenfalls nicht verändert.

And yet there is beauty.

The narc-dementia spiral has accelerated to a dozen covfefes per interview. And still they let this decrepit cult leader continue to play president.

Lesbisches Flirtszenario in der katholischen Morgenandacht im Deutschlandfunk. Wahrscheinlich unabsichtlich und unbemerkt, aber mal nicht der immer gleiche Phrasensalat mit Kindern oder Hochaltrigen.

They had no plan, they didn't think Iran would fight back, their justification for the attack changes by the hour, they have no exit strategy, and "effectively inexhaustible supply of certain munitions" might mean "not the kind we need to protect our allies and our own bases in the region, though."

Melania Trump chairing an UN meeting on "peace through education" is about as grimly absurd as Amanda Palmer posting faux-feminist outrage about the Epstein cabal.

A lovely tribute and a bangin' update.

The fascist trolls and bootlickers that call themselves the U.S. government understand quite well that the Trump cult will die with him. What they don't seem to understand is that it doesn't work like that with the Ayatollah.

Gorton and Denton by-election: it would seem that there's an alternative to Reform and Reform Light (Labour).

That footage of Kash Patel celebrating with the U.S. Hockey Team is the perfect blend of fash grift and rape culture.

Demented Don wanted to play "big island, big boat" again, and I suppose this is the only vessel the Navy will allow him to send.

A republic, if you can keep it.

Zitiert worden bin ich wohl schon mal, aber noch nie so ausführlich.

Why an aria as rapey as "Nessun dorma" is still a staple of very serious events baffles me. But at least I can't listen to it anymore without hearing the words to "Nissan bromsa" by KAJ. Vastly improved the dullest part of the Milano-Cortina opening ceremony.

A theology/philosophy/queer studies collab where we argue that Christian Social Teaching would have all the conceptual resources to embrace queer folks, were it not for the cowardly narratives of the dogmatists.

When I hear fellow Germans lament that there's no meaningful resistance to Trumpism in the US, I'm reminded of Hannah Gadsby's words: Feels like a nose being lectured by a fart.

Another murder in broad daylight. It won't be enough to prosecute the shooters. It won't be enough to defund ICE. It should be regarded as a criminal organization. All who signed up for it should be treated like Nazi soldiers and Confederate traitors. Noem, Charles, and Bovino should rot in prison.

What I'd like to know is: Did Nature publish this because they thought it was a damning indictment of ChatGPT? Or did they not want to rob the author of the opportunity to show his whole ass in public?

And it's not like he was coherent before the hour mark. I guffawed at the part about Chinese "windmills all over the place" (which don't spin in China, but kill all the birds in Europe).

The list of Nobel Laureates who gave away or sold their medals covers the full spectrum of humanity - from licking the whole fascist boot (Hamsun, Machado) to supporting the victims of fascism (Muratov) with eternal grifting (Watson) and escalating health care costs (Lederman) inbetween.

That's a 9.9 on the Bechdel scale.

Vollnazi erschießt Geflüchteten mit einer Nazipistole, zerlegt die Leiche und wirft sie in den Rhein. Das Landgericht Waldshut-Tiengen findet kreative Begründungen dafür, dass es sich dabei weder um eine rassistische Tat noch um besondere Niedertracht handele.

"[P]redicting doom in difficult times may have more to do with the sorrow and depression of the moment than with any real insight into future possibilities. Superstition, depression and fear play major roles in our efforts at prediction."

If the related War on Saturated Fats is counted separately, then that's the tenth war this regime claims to have ended.

Gotta kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight.

Since I've seen claims to the effect that Maduro's abduction was an unprecedented event under the current international order, I tried to count the number of times the United States removed or instigated the removal of a de facto head of government of an independent country since 1945.

Ich bedaure den Simultanübersetzer, der gerade im ZDF bei der Liveschalte nach Mar-a-Lago Trumps Lügen und Gebrabbel in halbwegs vollständige und kohärente Sätze zu überführen versucht.

Venezuela may have the world's largest oil reserves, but Russia has an unlimited supply of grim irony.

The modern techfash grift: company name from Lord of the Rings, business plan from Fallout.

"The first thing you learn is how strong you can be if you have to, and the next thing you learn is how cold it can get at night."

One of the eight wars he claims to have ended.

The techbro fever dream: buy a baby, rely on your sycophancy machine tell you how to keep it alive. When ruining human lives in the abstract is not enough, just ruin one specific life from scratch!

Time for a rewatch. Time to learn about contemporary fascism from a 90s TV show.

Die Unterraschung, wenn sich herausstellt, dass das Zentrum für Politische Schönheit immer noch keinerlei Anstand besitzt und auch die neueste Selbstgerechtigkeit auf Lügen gebaut war.

The magic of Christmas: Sinterklaas disrupts my engineering ethics class at the precise moment I'm explaining the Panopticon (immediately becomes an example in said class).

Ich hab' in diesem ganzen Scheißjahr noch nicht so gelacht.

On the one hand, this went through peer review and was published in a Nature-affiliated journal. On the other hand, it will be retracted much faster than Andrew Wakefield's hallucinations.

I can't sing or dance or play an instrument, and I can barely tell waltz from flamenco. But in a relentlessly shit year, I'm grateful for music: mathematical magic for our electric thinking, feeling flesh.

Thiel to Avignon and schism when?

Thinking of David Lyons' words today: "When asked how he could maintain his good cheer and optimism through these awful times, Howard [Zinn] would point out some things that the media obscures. People in many places [...] are always working on a relatively small scale for progressive change."

Ich finde es fast erholsam, dass die Nachrichten im Deutschlandfunk nicht nur über das große bekloppte Weltganze berichten, sondern auch dem kleinen Irrsinn Raum geben, so etwa:

😍 she even has a silly little waltz about shitty little men 😍