Further

For the anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot that almost toppled democracy (more quickly than now), the hacks and crackpots in power have concocted a deranged revisionist history of such "evil," "pathological," "Stalin-level propaganda" it's somehow dragged us even further through the looking glass. In its telling, "orderly patriots" marched to the Capitol, Democrats who "masterfully reversed reality" "staged the real rebellion," and Trump "triumphed over tyranny." Up is down. What the fuck. Orwell lives.

A few days ago, Robert Reich described the Jan. 6 insurrection as "the most shameful day in American history." He later wisely upped the ante to draw a direct line from that crime to all the rest, including his capture of Maduro, arguing they're all based on the same disturbing premise: "The hubris of omnipotence." Many have made the same connection, calling Jan. 6 a stark "fork in the road" whose moral implications - supremacy of political loyalty over the rule of law - poisoned all that followed. It became "the moment we lost the plot," "a riot that never ended," not "the final, violent death spasms of the cult of Trump" as many thought but "the dawn of Trump’s total liberation." Today, amidst all the gaslighting, denial, lies, the ongoing, well-fed hubris, we pay the price.

In a new year that promises to be as wretched, rancorous and bloody as the last one - cue oil lust and delusions of empire - we opt to celebrate the stirring hope and promise of newly elected Democratic Socialist and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has embraced diversity, collectivism, and the rare chance to shape "lives we (will) fill with freedom" when for too long "freedom has belonged only to those who can afford to buy it." Lesson for now: (Good) change happens.

Yeah, we know the bad kind does too, like America's heedless, illegal attack on and kidnapping from the sovereign Venezuela, "actions of a rogue state" overseen by an addled, clueless, slurring commander-in-chief (sic) making fake claims and struggling to stay upright during his own purportedly exultant news conference on storming "blind into Caracas." Add in preening drunktank bully Hegseth bragging, "America is back!" - to deadly quagmires - and spineless lil' Marco disparaging a country, ostensibly Cuba, "run by incompetent, senile men" - oops - and their brazen disregard of legal mandates to consult with Congress by dismissing that entire, pesky branch of government as "so so weak" - all told, the insane, unschooled act of hubris that is their inevitably catastrophic return to "naked imperialism" is best summed up by James Fallows: "Good God."

This holiday season, writes John Pavlovitz, "it’s a Herculean task to let our hearts be light." Daily, we confront the afflictions of an impossibly dark time - the cruelties wrought by a vile assemblage of hacks, liars, racists, and sadists who delight in Christmas-decked thugs menacing brown people with, "YOU'RE GOING HO HO HOME." Instead, we celebrate the judges, artists, pastors, organizers, brave pols, and regular people, aka "Radical Left Scum," refusing to bow to fascism. Go towards the light, and fuck these people.

We started this on Boxing Day - a British holiday described as the day when either gifts were given to servants and the poor or when mythical, hung-over, Scottish haggis fight it out in boxing matches, either which we'll take - feeling grateful to be more or less still standing after almost a year of brute insanity enacted by "some of the worst human beings on Planet Earth." Alas, they're still here, led by "the small, bitter man" and hateful worst of the worst who spent his sour "Christmas" trashing we the scum, hailing the end of "transgender for everyone," and ripping "the many sleazebags who loved Jeffrey Epstein" like he did. In a 100-plus-post frenzy, he then attacked Somali immigrants, urged Ilhan Omar to be deported, and urged his opponents to be jailed, called Stephen Colbert a “dead man walking” who CBS should "put to sleep," and warned, "Enjoy what may be your last Merry Christmas." One response: "Sorry, Jesus, I know it's your birthday, but Jesus fucking Christ."

In what was dubbed a "grievance Olympics," "conference of clowns" and "Wrestlemania with Podcasters," the noxious mucky-mucks of MAGA assembled for the first time since Charlie Kirk's death at an ostensibly celebratory AmericaFest that swiftly cratered into a toxic mess of orcs hating on each other. Despite the blinding glitz, savage barbs flew: Anti-Semite! Islam whore! Epstein flack! A coward! A cancer! And nonsense-vomiting. One viewer: "Holy shit, America." The Nazi kids are not all right.

Last weekend's public, ugly, inevitable fracturing of a once-lockstep right for all to see came at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference at Phoenix Convention Center. Billed as "a powerful celebration of faith, freedom, and the legacy of our founder" - though others called it "brownshirts in the desert" - it had Kirk plastered everywhere. Outside, banners urged "MAKE AMERICA CHARLIE KIRK"; inside, a huge portrait proclaimed, "WE ARE ALL CHARLIE KIRK"; nearby, weirdly, a Charlie Kirk murder re-enactment tent was set up for fans to take selfies in a spot just like where he was shot and killed. Wonkette: "Normal youth conference things!" About a third of the reported 30,000 in attendance, a "wretched hive of scum and villainy," were high school and college students who evidently have yet to find a life of non-malignant purpose.