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:

Someone who told the truth about the 2020 election and 1/6, and who “backed Ukraine to the gills”, would have voted to convict Trump twice. If the GOP had only 50 Senate seats McConnell’s a yes on all confirmations including Gaetz.

— Roy Batty’s Dove Wrangler (@dmslattery.bsky.social) February 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM

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.

My Definition of a Boombastic Theology

As many of my friends know I was raised Roman Catholic and was by most metrics a "good Catholic" through high school. Hell Heck, I was even an altar boy for six years or so and appear to have dodged a bullet in the process, perhaps the only benefit of profound acne in those years. The worst side effects for me of being an altar boy were crushed hands and often successful attempts to make me laugh during the shake-hands part (they changed the liturgy in the last 40 years so I have no idea what they call it now) on the part of my friends, several of whom were themselves altar boys so see you next Sunday Mike. I'll be sure to be on the aisle.

Toward the end of that time, though, I was on the way to lapsedness, with Father Orlando's sermons centered primarily on our temporal shortcomings in re the weekly collection. College got me the rest of the way, although my last confession was to the Bishop of Rochester at my confirmation so I feel that carries some weight.

All of this is to say that I carry a fair amount of vestigial theology with me, at least a frame of reference if not its actual contents of belief, faith etc.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY POINT. (Parishioners shift expectantly in their pews, prodding their neighbors who have nodded off)

I do not personally believe in the existence of Heaven or Hell, but I sincerely hope that they exist for those who do:

• Heaven for those who deserve it through their words and deeds
• Hell for those who think they deserve Heaven

I don't think that's too much to ask or even pray for.

Here now receive the inspiration for the post title. Go in peace.

What He Said

A hearty handshake to CRH on his triumphant return to posting. (Laurel wreaths are in tariff limbo.) I want to add to what he wrote with a couple additional observations.

We have to remember that Democrats are not the only group in the country with agency. Nobody was forced to vote for Trump; those voters made their choice and are somewhere on this handy hierarchy of hoo-boy. The terrible thing (OK one of the terrible things) we have to come to grips with is that a lot of people in this country, for a variety of reasons, want to see others hurt, and will even absorb a certain amount of punishment as long as Those People are seen to be getting it worse. The Republicans have run on this since at least 1980.

The political media, meanwhile, is all about the horserace, who's up, who's down, who's leaking. This is PRECISELY why they HATED the Obama and Biden years: quiet competence is boring. This tends to distort, to say the least, coverage of current events.

OK, where was I? Oh, right.

We may all have agency, whether we acknowledge it or not, but one thing that seems to be lacking on the other side (indeed its absence seems to be actively encouraged) is empathy. It does not matter (in this sense, and pardon me CRH) that CRH has a trans sister; I know that he would support trans rights regardless because he can empathize with that. The ability to put ourselves in other people's shoes without reference to personal experience is one of the greatest attributes of humanity if only we would let it, and there is no reason it should not influence our politics.

But fuck Elon Musk.

Opinions Are Like Assholes

 

This isn’t what I thought my first blog post would be about. The insane clown posse running the new administration is trying to take a hammer to the liberal consensus of the 20^th century, endangering people’s lives without care, and there is an almost infinite supply of topics to rail against, but I want to level my first broadside against my allies.

I was hanging out with half a dozen fellow Ultimate players yesterday during a pickup game, and the talk turned to politics (I lie, it never left politics, this is Washington DC). We agreed that it is was likely nobody in our pickup group was a Trump supporter, and we all hated what was happening. Paul, a player I don’t know well, then told us, with heat, that the Democrats screwed up the election. The Democrats should have dumped Biden in the primary season, should have arranged a snap convention after Biden dropped out, and made a huge a mistake by backing trans rights and using “pronouns.” The only people expressing an opinion on his opinion agreed, except me (but nobody (literally) listened to me).

I object on a factual basis to the first two points of his thesis, but that’s not the reason for this post.

The Democrats are a big tent party. Their strengths and shortcomings are a product of the coalition of disparate interests, none with sufficient political clout to advance their goals (an overstatement, but bear with me). If a guiding philosophy comes out of this, it seems to me that it should be this: Democrats will work to protect and support the disadvantaged. I think this ought to work because many Americans end up disadvantaged by our system at one point or another in their lives, whether they realize it or not, and 90+ years of mostly Democratic lawmaking has helped make our lives more secure.

This is why I am enraged, incandescent, that such a large share of election post-mortems has focused on exactly who the Democrats should have thrown under the bus to secure a victory. If only they had admitted how awful trans people are (my sister is trans) they would have won easily. Maybe to be sure they needed to agree that all illegal immigrants should be deported. And nobody wants unqualified women and minorities getting jobs ahead of white males.

It is trivial to carve out a minority in the Democratic coalition with which a majority is uncomfortable. What’s left when they finish jettisoning undesirables?[i]

If you find it easy to look at a group and say, “I don’t want to fight for them,” you’re on the road to joining the fascist program. And somebody might be looking at your group.

 

 

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[i] Even though none of our three readers will do this, I’m going to go ahead and respond to the wiseass who comments “what about child molesters? Should the Democrats support NAMBLA?” My response is go fuck yourself.

Knowledge is Good, Also Beer

In the midst of (WA)EE it is heartening to know that you can still drink beer at the Library of Congress.

Laura, the erstwhile Blog Collective and I gathered there last week in the Great Hall, which along with the Main Reading Room is my favorite interior space in Washington DC. Thanks to the BC's visit to the Morgan Library last month we have now seen 9.5% of the remaining complete Gutenberg Bibles in the world.

Here's to knowledge!

Never was good at reading signs

Enemies Domestic and Foreign

Big couple of days for the latest iteration of America First.

On the international front:

• We now have a Russian asset (at least) in charge of our intelligence apparatus.
• Our abusive alcoholic Secretary of Defense has disavowed the concept of NATO and essentially acceded to Russia's negotiating demands in re Ukraine even before the negotiations' start.
• Our definitely genuinely stupid and likely cognitively impaired president king has suggested it was a bad idea for Ukraine to get involved in Russia's invasion. He also continued to pitch timeshares in Gaza, but I suspect the (checks notes) King of Jordan isn't on board.
• Some dumbass GOP Rep (redundant and I double dog dare you to prove me wrong) has introduced a bill calling for the annexation of Greenland and its subsequent renaming to Red-White-and-Blue-Land. (Google Maps is probably all over that, the collaborationist cowards.)

Domestically:

• RFK Jr is one step closer to getting a bunch of us unnecessarily sickened and/or killed. Of all the madness around us, the Republican fluffing of a Kennedy stands out for its sheer unexpectedness, although to be fair the spectrum of unexpectedness has been stretched like Silly Putty lately.
• President Musk wore a baseball cap in the Oval Office (thank God it wasn't a tan suit) and continues to use his son as a human shield while spewing drug-addled nonsense.
• The Vice President and others, including a professor at Harvard Law (oh that conservative intelligentsia, what WILL they think of next), have suggested that the executive can just ignore judicial rulings at will. Except I guess when it involves student loan forgiveness.
• (waves arms) EVERYTHING ELSE

We are now 1/52 of the way through this, assuming the Constitution ever gets consulted again.

I really hope all of this will have been worth it just to own the libs.

And Now, Sports, More or Less

 I don't have a favorite in the Super Bowl, although it would be nice if Saquon Barkley had his way with the Chiefs' D-line.

Trump attending the game is not surprising, although I was surprised to learn he is the first sitting President to do so. Narcissists gotta narcissize, ya know. With the game on Fox we should expect frequent reverent cutaways to his location and if they show Taylor Swift more there will be hilarious hell to pay. You know he'll have someone keeping count. Not Hegseth obviously as he has been tailgating since Wednesday.

How will CFDT be greeted by the crowd? One one hand SB tickets are pretty pricey so you would think a better-off crowd might be more in line with his supporters. On the other hand, he got a delightfully negative reception at World Series Game 4 in Washington back in 2019, and I can personally attest to the cost of those tickets.

Bryan and I went to Game 3 so instead of booing Trump we got to boo Roberto Osuna which was its own kind of awesome. As Osuna trotted from the bullpen to the mound, amidst the cascade of regular booing (which started as soon as the bullpen door opened) a spectator in back of us yelled "OSUNA! YOU SUCK BECAUSE YOU BEAT WOMEN!" Bryan looked at me in surprise and I said "He's not wrong" before returning to lustily booing.

OK, off to make eggplant parm. Stay safe everybody.

Is America Going Fascist?

Short answer: Yes.

Slightly longer answer: Yes, afraid so.

For a more complete answer, read this piece by Umberto Eco and ask yourself how many boxes the current (not to mention past; this is not entirely new) events in the US are checking.

The problem is that too many people want this, aspiring to be either participants or spectators. That they will be victims as well may not have occurred to them, although as long as Those People get it worse it may be worth it for them.

It has been only three weeks but we are well along in the Finding Out phase.