Can You Believe This Shit?

 Really, I have nothing else.

Scout Simon Cheezit Slattery, 2012ish - 2025

Scout came into our lives on January 4, 2014 after we met him at an adoption event. While he very quickly settled in to life with Raven and the household humans, he was never fully comfortable with outsiders. Similarly, among his canine peers he got along fine, although he had his favorites and, on the flip side, was not big on puppies or younger, more rambunctious dogs.

For most of his time with us Scout was the self-deputized head of yard security, patrolling the perimeter while Raven waited patiently on the patio to see if anything would pop out of the bushes he was working. One of his favorite spots was a clump of tiger lilies from which he could survey the neighbors' yard and our driveway.

What are the neighbors up to

A few years ago we discovered Scout had heart disease as well as a growth on one of his heart valves, with the vets advising us that this could cause trouble at almost any time. Scout held up well during this, although he recently joined Raven in being essentially deaf; like Raven, though, he did not seem to mind. Finally, a few weeks ago, we had to take Scout to the ER and were told we didn't have much time left with him. Even then he seemed to recover pretty well until this past week, when the dreaded phrase Quality of Life could no longer be ignored.

Scout began the next leg of his journey at home on Saturday, March 28, 2025, following a hearty meal of burger and chicken nuggets. The end was peaceful release from his suffering.

Scout Slattery runs free across endless grass. He was and is a Good Dog.

The Cranks Have Become the Levers

The post title is the first one I conceived for the re-launch of the blog, but Events Kept Occurring and I hadn't been able to organize my thoughts around this until now. As often, an external stimulus provided the, uh, stimulus.

A couple of days ago on Bluesky I saw this combination question/judgment posed. I am not linking as it was part of a larger back-and-forth.

All these people who claim to have seen fascism all along, were they also inviting these fascist friends and family over for Thanksgiving and BBQs all along?

Sounds to me like that was permission, and normalizing the depravity to come.

To which I responded:

Yes and I suspect I am not the only one wrestling with this. The difference is now these people are in the driver’s seat instead of being just Racist Uncle or Crank Friend Who’s Fun at Parties.

Frankly I would be surprised if anyone is NOT wrestling with this, unless of course you're on board with the current situation, in which case

I will be Judge Judy and executioner

(Film digression; you're welcome)

I am pretty confident when I say that everyone knows and/or is related to someone like this, which reflects the near-even split in the electorate which btw AGAIN did not deliver an absolute majority to the Republicans.

Before the 2024 election you could compromise somewhat, and I challenge any erstwhile purists out there to search your feelings before casting the first stone on this.

Crank (Racist/Rightwing) Uncle

If you're related there's not a whole lot you can do if someone else is organizing the event and there are other relatives there you really want to see and/or the event is in honor of a relative you like. There have always been Racist/Rightwing Relatives and you become adept at keeping interaction to a minimum. I recall meeting a cousin's boyfriend at a wedding get-together who railed against welfare then admitted, in almost the very next breath, to his family getting Government Cheese when he was growing up.

Crank Friend Who’s Fun at Parties

Similarly I am confident that we all know that one former classmate/co-worker/etc. with whom you've hung out* in various ways for, in many cases, decades. Their politics have always been at least suspect to you but you compartmentalized because I'm pretty sure that's what most people do in these circumstances, plus their spouse is nice so etc. etc.

So what changed? To be fair, the cracks started appearing in the first Trump administration, but now:

(POINTS TO TITLE)

In many/most cases these people are either cheering on the Republicans or, if you are lucky enough, actively and enthusiastically participating in the destruction of the American constitutional experiment. They have declared by their actions that they hate me and will marginalize me, my son but first and foremost my wife and daughter at the first opportunity, because they have been handed the keys.

And do you know what? THAT SUCKS.

• It SUCKS to get hate-filled texts from relatives.
• It SUCKS to have to negotiate a large complex group of friends and acquaintances, some of which are wonderful people and others of which are no longer welcome in your house.
• It SUCKS to have to cancel fun but expensive plans with friends because an unelected illegal immigrant decided foreign aid was unnecessary.
• It SUCKS to have your slowly-growing fear finally confirmed: The US Constitution is just a pinky promise in the absence of seven oath-keeping Republicans (3 in the House, 4 in the Senate).

Maybe that original poster up there had a carefully-curated set of friends and acquaintances with clearly-delineated areas based on political outlook.

Or maybe they are human, just like the rest of us.

Did somebody say Government Cheese?

*wrestled with the prepositional syntax on this one; red-pen suggestions are welcome in comments

You're Next

I have no idea where the current academic discussion stands, but even prior to my college and grad school experience in the Before Times there has been a long-running debate on the nature of totalitarianism vs. authoritarianism: what defines a totalitarian system, how does it differ from "mere" authoritarianism, does it even exist in the wild etc. Personally I think totalitarianism is more of a theoretical concept and not possible in the real world, but at the same time I wasn't like "WHEW, good thing the Soviet Union wasn't totalitarian!" Authoritarian governments are Bad regardless of intensity, which leads me, as you were all fervently praying, to my point.

OK, full disclosure, this was someone else's point but a) I forget where I saw it and b) it's not super-groundbreaking, just insightful:

Authoritarian governments don't need 24/7 oppression of all possible sources of resistance to maintain control. They just need to make periodic examples of easy targets, preferably among the weak but if they aren't available then people or institutions with relatively low public sympathy. So, in the last few years months weeks shit days we have seen two seemingly disparate groups targeted: immigrants and Big Law. More importantly, though, the intentional, even proudly lawless manner in which the Republicans have carried out their actions is the real message here.

It's not actually You're Next; it's You COULD Be Next. That can be enough to make a person or institution consider their next actions, although to be clear it can actually distort thinking. Look at Columbia University, which bent the knee earlier this week. You think the Republicans are going to let them stand upright again? Please.

Once the precedent is established the ratchet begins to turn. Green card holder today, naturalized citizen tomorrow, full citizen after that. (The latter with US citizen parents, as I realize that seal has already been broken.) Paul Weiss today, &c.

Each acquiescence is license to continue, to escalate, to de facto become part of the regime. Moreover, acquiescence may well not be a one-and-done, as I absolutely guarantee Columbia will discover.

Every single one of us, all of our institutions, are under threat. How we respond will determine how much we can save. This is going to be really hard.

"Judge X has made their decision; now let them enforce it"

First of all, is every single goddamn famous quote apocryphal?!

More to the point, I am shocked - shocked! - that the Republicans are poised to ignore rulings that might interfere with their systematic destruction of the United States of America.

"Ricky, I must say I did not see that coming, oh who are we kidding"

Even Dr. Frankenstein John Roberts felt obliged to join the kayfabe. I expect Roberts and Barrett will trade off being Murkowski/Collins in the coming series of 5-4 decisions that ring down the curtain on our constitutional republic.

The leitmotif of all my responses to those expressions of "gosh we didn't vote for this" is WHAT ELSE DID YOU EXPECT HE AND HIS PALS LAID IT ALL OUT IN PLAIN SIGHT. We also had his previous four crime-ridden years to consider, with the response of just enough people being some combination of Eggs are Expensive and Eww It's Those People. Enough of the electorate also felt the appropriate way to punish Biden/Harris for their frankly criminal stance on Gaza was to... vote for the guy who thought we weren't letting Israel make the rubble bounce high enough.

49.8% of the voters fucked around (or worse, voted FOR it), but we are all finding out. As our wet President might put it, "Very Unfair!"

You Say Agent, I Say Asset...

... Republicans could call this whole thing off if they wanted to.

The point, as multiple people keep observing, is not whether the Republicans, collectively and/or individually, are "agents" or "assets" of the Russian security services. It's this, as noted here:

The question here is not whether Trump, his employer/owner Musk, and Trump’s team are witting or unwitting Russian assets. The question is what, if anything, would they be doing differently if they were. And the answer to that is nothing.

You could also ask the same question replacing "Russian" with "Chinese". The Republicans' multipronged assault on immigration, higher education and scientific research, combined with the utter destruction of the US ability to project soft power and the full-throated proclamation that we are not to be trusted, is a rather too comprehensive answer to the question "How would you usher in the Chinese Century?"

The Republicans are providing an enormous amount of aid and comfort to our adversaries. If only there was a word to describe that.

Layout Update: Engine Terminal Makeover

In my previous update I alluded to future improvements to the engine terminal portion of the layout. For my 2025 FedEx Day project I was able to get most of the base scenery finished and made improvements to a couple of structures.

OK, here are the obligatory Before pictures. 

Aerial view of the engine terminal with various parts scattered about

The operational nexus of the layout except it's non-operational

The flat black with dust overlay isn’t the worst looking simulation of a dirty, grimy work environment, but it could use some variety; weeds can grow pretty much anywhere, for example. I also wanted to cover up the remaining Sculptamold surface and break up the monochrome green ground cover. Once more for those late arrivals to the train room: Nature is Variety.

Meanwhile the turntable and especially the roundhouse need some attention.

The Turntable

Mechanically I need to determine how to wire and configure the turntable so it stops at the appropriate track with the press of a button. Otherwise there is a $300 paperweight preventing me from operating the layout as intended: changing locomotives as each train arrives, turning them around as necessary and sending them to the roundhouse for repairs as needed.

The Roundhouse

I built the roundhouse in the early 1980s using parts from three kits. It looks great if you don’t look too closely and while you can see its bones if you modeled at that time (and even now; I believe Heljan, the maker of the main pieces, is now marketed as Walthers Cornerstone but maybe not in N anymore), it is unique and a sentimental favorite of mine. However, as you can see there are some details missing and it needs a general sprucing up. The main goal is to paint it in my railroad's standard gray with green trim to tie it more effectively into the infrastructure.

I designed the layout, after all, with a few basic Givens of which one was "find a place for the roundhouse". Once I determined the location of this largest structure on the layout, everything else flowed from there. 

OK, back to the work at hand.

In Progress

First of all, unfortunately the turntable proved a tough nut to crack and so I postponed that work for another day. As it happened I was able to make progress the next weekend but that is a subject for another update.

For the scenery work I gathered the necessary tools and supplies (including some ground foam I had bought 40 years ago!) and got to work. As usual they key to my scenery is Elmer's white glue, which I diluted a bit then brushed onto the surface. For some reason I couldn't locate any plastic spoons so a paper cup became the applicator:

Varying the vegetation near the right-of-way

For the "work" area of the engine terminal I took a three-step approach:

1. Brush on glue in a random-ish pattern
2. Sprinkle a blend of dirt (from Vermont!) and ballast but leaving some bare patches of glue
3. Sprinkle a blend of green ground foam on the remaining area

I was so intent on this that I forgot to take any pictures. Working only a few square inches at a time was painstaking but it gave good results (no wait, don't skip to the end yet).

Once I had completed the scenery to the extent possible, I turned to structural work.

I needed to glue some missing parts onto the roundhouse so it needed cleaning, which is something I am not sure I had ever done since the early 1980s. To be fair it looked kind of realistic as nothing looks like dirt so much as, well, dirt. I started by wiping down the roof with wet paper towels but quickly realized that a trip to the utility sink with a toothbrush would be quicker.

During the de-soiling; some actually remained even after this

For the parts I turned to my trusty Parts Bin, in which was a giant Ziploc bag full of parts. Rummaging through it I quickly found exactly what I needed, including the exact door for the one missing from the roundhouse (as seen in the second Before picture). Never throw anything out, you may need it 40 years later.

Even Marie Kondo would approve

Finally, I painted the whole thing. Its size is such that I was able to give it two coats without pausing, as the first coat dried before I made it all the way around.

So how did all this turn out?

The Reveal

I am extremely pleased with the results. The dirt/ballast/weed combination turned out great and the different shades of green along the right-of-way have helped tone down the monochromatic appearance.

Meanwhile the roundhouse looks fantastic. The lighter color not only lets it fit in better with the other structures, but reveals more detail and (I think) reduces its apparent size. I have since grimed it up a bit with my standard India ink wash but it is once more the centerpiece of the layout.

Need to clean up the vegetation a bit but great progress

Compare to the first Before picture

As always there is more work to be done. I want to cover the remaining Sculptamold areas with static grass as well as put some tufts and small bushes here and there for additional variety. But as the first layer of scenery I am very pleased with it, and will extend the work around the corner to the yard (upper left in the last picture). Structurally I need to spruce up the coaling tower and sand house as well as the diesel fuel tanks. There is also a water tank kit requiring my attention.

But not bad for a 24-hour* period!

*Actual work time was about 14 hours; I managed to catch a few hours of sleep and then the last hours were spent frenetically creating my presentation video.

Fedex Day 2024: Structures!

In my previous Fedex Day post I mentioned my goal of getting the 2024 presentation over to my home computer. That didn't quite work out so in the interest of time I'll provide a quick description and some pictures.

For 2024 I addressed a common problem for modelers: a structure kit bin filled with unbuilt structures. Moreover, I actually had spots on the layout for a number of these, which is a bit unusual for me since the configuration of the layout results in a relatively small amount of space for buildings. As is often the case I hadn't had the time to get these built and positioned, but Fedex Day once more provided a great opportunity for getting a lot of work done at once.

So, I pulled out seven kits:

RIP John Hitzeman and American Model Builders

And I got to work, using an inverse stationary assembly line approach in which I moved from spot to spot, painting, gluing, painting some more, really a lot of painting:

At least I got to sit down most of the time

The kits ran the gamut of style and material, from plastic, to laser-cut wood, to semi-"craftsman" style where the wood trim comes in stock lengths and you cut sections as needed per the instructions.

I made pretty good progress but I think I only completed one structure in the 24-hour period (lower right in the next picture). However, shortly afterwards I was able to complete them all:

Just realized this looks like a really odd take on a suburban cul-de-sac

One of my favorites is the "downtown business" type building, common to a lot of small towns including the one where I grew up. Each wall is a single casting so I took a tiny brush and a deep breath (repeatedly) and ended up with this:

Not too shabby if I must say

Now of course I need to build the roads connecting them and complete the scenery around them so they blend in with the surroundings. One project leads to another!

You Keep Using That Word…

The word of course being midterms, shorthand for the 2026 Congressional elections. We see and hear references to the midterms fairly frequently:

• This could have consequences for the midterms
• Heading in to the midterms (which is bizarre as we are mere months away from the most recent round)
• Just wait until the midterms!

Various observers express puzzlement over the Republicans’ ongoing destruction of the American government, aligned with if not in outright service to Putin, Orban, Erdogan etc. Surely they will face backlash in 2026. That they are not considering this is inconceivable. Right?

Sure, under normal circumstances. Except of course we left normal circumstances behind no later than January 20. We are indeed headed towards the Cliffs of Insanity* and shrieking eels are the least of our worries, especially since we know the Dread Justice Roberts is out there somewhere.

Republicans are doing their best to move us toward managed democracy. There will be elections but the outcomes will be more or less predetermined, and the franchise will be restricted to the Right Sort of People to the extent of Samuel Alito's tolerance for judicial hackery, so yeah, pretty restricted. (It is merely a matter of time until the Fourteenth Amendment is ruled unconstitutional.) Enough states are on board with this to ensure the "correct" outcome on a national level.

For an analogy we don't even have to travel to any icky foreign places where they talk funny and have universal healthcare. We can go back in time right here to the Jim Crow South, where to be fair they still talk funny and it can get icky in the summertime. The good times there certainly remain unforgotten and since SCOTUS has mostly nullified the Voting Rights Act, most of the heavy lifting is complete.

So what we have is the Republicans taking their cue from the top and going all in on legal lawlessness. After all, as the new national motto puts it, QUID FACIS DE EO.

This may be far-fetched but it’s not, shall we say… inconceivable.

*Wallace Shawn’s line read of that is one of my absolute favorite things in that wonderful film.

"So what do you call this act?"

As I began the previous post I realized that I had been mis-identifying the perpetrators of the ongoing destruction of the United States of America and its place in the world. It is inadequate, though certainly not entirely incorrect, to pin this all on Trump, or Musk, or the combination thereof, though they are certainly the drug-addled, greasy, poisoned tip of the spear.

I'm leaving Vance out of this on purpose despite (or indeed because of) yesterday's Donald Jr./Fredo Corleone impression. I see he got an appropriate reception on his ski trip to Vermont:

This'll sting worse than his eyeliner on the bunny slope

As someone who was referred to (in a conversation in which I was not a participant, no less) as a "flatlander" at a gas station in Chester, I approve this message.

OK, back to my point. Henceforth, when referring to anything like this, I will refer to those responsible as:

The Republicans!

To be clear I will usually omit the exclamation point.

We have to remember that the Republicans as a group are responsible for both Trump administrations. Trump's profound unfitness by any metric for the office of Anything was crystal clear years before Mark Burnett's careful editing made him ready for "reality" TV (which word should always be the first warning). Despite this the Republicans let him in probably assuming they could manage him, something that has always worked out in history whenever this situation arose.

The years 2016-2024 made him the only presidential candidate whose unfitness for the Presidency in particular was demonstrated by... his previous term as President and the aftermath. Despite this etc. etc.

Meanwhile, the hilariously named "Never Trump" Republicans (better characterized by the great Roy Edroso as "Just the Tip Trumpers") were initially more concerned that he was going too fast down the trail blazed by Reagan and paved black-ice slick by Gingrich and McConnell, giving off much more of a "he'll ruin it for us" vibe than "he'll ruin the US". They voted for him anyway because of course they did, save for those brave few who wrote in Reagan or Edmund Burke even though the latter is ineligible. (Corporeal status isn't specifically mentioned in the Constitution so that gives the "originalists" an out.) Trump's first term demonstrated the structural advantages of not giving a shit and gave them a stacked judiciary to boot, so the next time around one didn't hear so much since even the two-time write-in voters got what they wanted the first time around.

This brings us to the current state of affairs. Republicans hold all the levers of power* and we have seen in the past how a united legislative majority and/or a determined** judiciary can stymie the executive branch, especially in Congress's  rightfully jealous guard over the "power of the purse." Trump is probably deathly afraid of bugs so this time there aren't even crickets, just dead silence or enthusiastic sycophancy. After all, the destruction of the so-called "administrative state" is a top priority, to the point where the destruction of the actual state apparently is an acceptable by-product. Republicans know (and may actually find out) that this is an unpopular position, so they seem to be more than happy to let Trump do their dirty work for them.

The Republicans could have stopped this at any point and still might be able to, although I worry that this ability is waning over time. As noted above, this seems to be what they want, so it is more than fair to assign responsibility to them collectively. Call it political bigotry.

For a palate cleanser, here's the late great political philosopher Gottfried's version of the actual punchline to the post title. ("No sweat, sweat's disgusting" kills every time)

*For neither the first nor the last time, small liberal-arts college campuses are NOT a lever of power.

**By "determined" I mean "we determined the desired outcome in advance and worked backward from there." By great good fortune/stunning coincidence/I just threw up in my mouth the rigorous doctrine of "originalism" allows its proponents to bat 1.000. On to the Fourteenth so-called "Amendment"!

Ripping off the Band-Aid

It was really only a matter of time before the Republicans made it official that we are now a Russian client state; not whether, but when. At some point they were going to have to Come Out and Say It no matter how screamingly obvious it was going to be, no matter how for long we have known it was going to happen (in this case since fall 2016 at the latest). We also knew that the combination of subject matter and parties involved would result in something transcendingly horrific.

Turns out that point was February 28, 2025. You can't say they didn't deliver. Having TASS "accidentally" present was a nice touch.

I have seen enough still pics of the event and read enough transcripts to get a sense of what happened. I have no plans to watch any video as I would see or hear nothing unexpected from the Republicans, just more of the same profoundly damaged, intellect-bereft kayfabe.

But I will take a moment to pile on to this rising star, this eminent member of the new generation of GOP (Gang of Putin) leaders followers:

All sorts of comparison to canines on this list but dogs at least have the benefit of being good.

I have heard rumors of members of the conservative intelligentsia being "upset" by these latest completely unpredictable developments. Wondering where they land on this:

Show me on your offshore bank account where the Russians touched you

Oh and I see laudable demonstrations of support for Ukraine on Facebook, but I also see it on the pages of folks who I know did not vote for Harris (reminder to Find Yourself Here; I think I will add this to the righthand column). They have no business posting that and they have my profound contempt.

That'll tell 'em. Which, by the way, seems to be MAGA's interpretation of the Republicans' treatment of Zelenskyy*.

*Transliteration of the various versions of Cyrillic has always been contentious and politically influenced. This is how it appears on his X account (I know, I know).

We're Now the Bad Guys

I have no adjectives, adverbs or nouns which can do justice to the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Contemptible, appalling, and disgraceful come to mind, but clearly fall short. Kudos to Vance for stepping up his game and establishing his bona fides as the intellectual and moral heir to Trump.

The only small gesture I could think of was a donation at United24, a Ukrainian government fundraising portal.

If you are unware of the video, you can watch it at Don't actually watch this video. Important safety tip: don't watch the video.

 

Someone at the New York Times Has a Spine

 Against all the odds someone at the New York Times not being paid for their tepid opinions has managed to honestly report the impact of one of the First Felon's vindictive decisions. It's on the Games page, which is probably how it slipped by the internal compliance monitors.

New York Times Strands

This is in reference to the misAdministration claiming the authority to strike down NYC's congestion pricing program, in case you don't follow New York news.

How Can We Miss Him if He Won't Go Away

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Testudines) has announced he will not be seeking another term, though he will wander around the Capitol through 2026 which really seems a lifetime away at this point. The linked piece indicates he is experiencing some not-unusual-for-his-age cognitive issues, which is unfortunate for all concerned and not least for himself.*

McConnell's legacy is of course the destruction of the Senate, in the same way that Newt Gingrich's is the destruction of the House of Representatives. The Senate in particular has become merely a reactionary obstructionist roadblock for Democratic administrations and a braying rubber stamp for Russia's new best friends. I have little use for the upper chamber in any case but its current iteration is worthless for any practical purpose.

More specifically, McConnell could have voted to convict, and directed his caucus accordingly, on either or both Trump impeachments. Even out of his position as majority leader he could have used his considerable tenure to influence the Senate's vaunted advise and consent privilege. In response to a Jay Nordlinger piece in National Review lauding McConnell's "lonely" votes against nominees (what performative horseshit - the votes and the NR piece) I wrote this:

The apotheosis of Reaganism in Trump is as much on him as on anyone else. I wish the Capitol had a screen door so it would hit his sorry ass on the way out.

--------------------------------

*I truly try to avoid wishing ill health/death on others although some people are really testing this. With regard to cognitive decline I want my enemies to be of absolutely sound mind when they go, roughly analogous to Wesley/DPR's plan as outlined to Prince Humperdinck, minus the amputations (but I am willing to listen to reason). This applies especially to those whose comfortable optimism may be wildly misplaced.