in all seriousness, barring the development of mass sustained civil action to check the republicans and force the democrats into action, we are facing a slow sustained spiral into fascism in the face of opponents who have no respect for laws or ethics.

The whole idea that republicans are going to snap into decency at some point is a laughable fiction, second only to the idea that our laws or institutions can provide a meaningful check on those who openly oppose them

the capitol attack should be a wakeup call to the fact that the security apparatus is utterly unable to prevent or respond to physical violence for reasons which I have spent much time elucidating - actors within it are working against us and it cannot be trusted

our greatest enemies at this point are not the republicans, but the fools and cowards who maintain the fiction that there is some sort of inevitable accountability coming to trump et al at the hands of a constantly shifting enforcer which has not yet appeared

the story that the situation is under control is a face, but a dangerous one that short circuits an organic drive to action, a sense of danger, the sense of urgency necessary to do what we have seen so many other countries due in the face of a full fledged authoritarian assault

as long as we continue to underestimate the will to power, the willingness and ability of our opponents to wield violence and lawlessness in service to their agenda, we will be like dodo birds waiting to be clubbed to death. in the end, all politics is physical.

I think one reason that people find Eugene Goodman such a comforting figure is that he symbolizes the great hope that somewhere there is a superhero public servant who will save the day, when in fact he was just an ordinary person doing an extraordinary act when faced with crisis

the lesson should not be that somewhere in the wings there are heroes waiting to save us, the lesson is that we should recognize that we are in a moment of crisis and act - to become the heroes, not as superhumans but as ordinary humans doing our best under crisis circumstances