Stop the Idiocracy: Spain

Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts

Monday, August 10, 2026

Unmaking of the Union

$A symbolic editorial illustration depicts the continental United States as a weathered parchment map torn into two vast landmasses separated by widening chasms. Faded blue and muted red checkerboard patterns subtly distinguish the opposing halves, while snapped stitches, frayed seams, and coils of barbed wire suggest failed attempts to hold the nation together. Tiny groups of silhouetted figures stand isolated on either side of the fractures, unable to cross the widening divide. Rendered in muted earth tones beneath a bleak, overcast sky, the image evokes political polarisation, national fragmentation, and the uncertain prospect of a country slowly pulling itself apart.$

image generated via ChatGPT

Historian Timothy Snyder cautions the (former) US may cease to exist as a singular political entity within five to fifteen years. {IBT 10 August}

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/future-us-political-polarisation-national-divorce-1813376

A ‘national divorce’ shall, in due course, become an inescapable reality. The questions are: how messy doth it need to be, what exact disorder must such a rupture entail, and can it be done in a relatively peaceful and organised manner? Perhaps it is time for all states, individuals, and institutions to commence preparations and to grapple with the logistics — vital matters such as the precise delineation of geographic boundaries, the negotiation of a common defence pact where feasible (an outcome vastly preferable to any conceivable alternative), and the question of whether a common currency would remain — rather than pretending our present union remains sustainable. FTA:

Renowned historian Timothy Snyder has warned that the US may not continue to exist in its current form over the next five, 10 or 15 years. He argued that Trump supporters may be more likely to wreck the country as a political entity than to establish a homogeneous authoritarian regime stretching from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

The warning appeared on Sunday alongside concerns about growing political polarisation, state-level resistance to federal authority, and renewed discussion of a possible national divorce.

The news came after Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly demanded a legal dismantling of the nation following conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. Greene told supporters she wanted a peaceful national divorce, arguing the country was too far gone and no longer safe.

Polls conducted since 2021 by universities, YouGov and others found that a third or more of Americans expected a civil war during the next decade or so, according to the source article.

The process of separation shall not prove smooth, yet it is becoming increasingly apparent that it is necessary. We had a good run, these United States, but no empire in the whole of recorded history hath endured forever. Our time hath now drawn to a close.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Friday, July 31, 2026

Storm over Ceuta

A symbolic seaside illustration showing a dark-haired woman kneeling alone upon a sandy beach, wrapped in a delicate translucent white shawl that billows around her in the sea breeze. She gazes thoughtfully towards the surf while holding a damp strand of hair, with black diving fins resting beside her and discarded rubber inner tubes scattered across the shoreline. Behind her, shafts of sunlight break dramatically through towering storm clouds, illuminating dozens of distant figures wading ashore through the shallow waves. The contrast between the solitary foreground figure and the mass of arrivals beyond evokes themes of migration, uncertainty, humanitarian crisis, and the fragile hope represented by light piercing the gathering storm.

image generated via Grok

Is the Trump regime covertly stoking Spain's sudden migrant crisis to seize control of the Strait of Gibraltar? {Türkiye Today 31 July}

https://www.turkiyetoday.com/opinion/the-gibraltar-calculus-is-spains-ceuta-included-in-the-abraham-accords-3225028?s=1

Raise hell over migrants coming into the former United States, but facilitate their entering another country and disrupting its economy and security. And for what purpose? Nothing is ever for a good purpose with Trump or those working alongside him. Violating the territorial integrity of a NATO state — under the heretofore unheard-of pretence that the area now being overrun with migrants does not belong to Spain but to Morocco, whose government is evidently complicit in the scheme — is especially nefarious when America is supposed to be Spain's ally and partner. America and Europe have been solid allies throughout the post-war era, but that era is over and the two sides are increasingly being cast as adversaries in a new cold war — or perhaps a hot one; time shall tell. Who else benefits from this new world of America and Europe at odds? Russia, China, possibly India, the Islamists, and anybody else with an interest in dividing and conquering the Western world.

What y’all voted for, #Murica.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Sunday, July 19, 2026

“Congratulations... now look at me”

A celebratory World Cup medal presentation unfolds before a packed stadium as Spain’s national football team gathers upon the podium wearing gold medals and red-and-blue kits, smiling, pointing and preparing for a commemorative photograph. Standing conspicuously at the front of the group is Donald Trump, dressed in a dark navy suit with a bright red tie, smiling directly towards the cameras while a FIFA official reaches from the right as though attempting to guide him aside. The Spanish players remain focused upon one another and the celebration behind him, creating a striking visual contrast between the jubilant team moment and the prominent figure occupying the foreground. Bright afternoon light illuminates the colourful, crowded sporting spectacle.

Getty Images

After being mercilessly booed, Trump refuses to leave the podium as the Spanish players celebrate their World Cup victory. {The Telegraph 19 July}

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/da89c91b7768d83e

Another giant embarrassment for the former United States of America inflicted by this man, on the world’s biggest sporting stage. King Felipe IV of Spain was on the field, but he did not deign to upstage his own countrymen in this manner. Trump hath spent recent weeks loudly expressing his displeasure with Spain — specifically related to trade — so this is an especially brazen gesture on his part. No, I do not believe this was mere aloofness. He knew exactly what he was doing. Trump must be the star of every show, no matter what it is.

Could not have happened to nicer guys: Andrew Tate and his little brother under arrest in Miami. {AP 18 July}

https://apnews.com/article/tate-brothers-social-influencers-arrest-82b6638219839dcf653c09309da66f16

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Wednesday, July 8, 2026

The threat heard round the living room: business as usual in Madrid

A richly detailed illustration depicts a warmly lit Spanish-inspired sitting room filled with colourful ceramics, wrought-iron décor, patterned textiles, and candlelight. At the centre, a dark-haired woman stands laughing and gesturing playfully while wearing an oversized red Spanish national football team jersey. Behind her, a television broadcasts a political meeting featuring a prominent American political figure seated at a conference table. A Spanish flag hangs above the television, while framed portraits and decorative tiles reinforce the Iberian setting. On a sofa nearby, a blonde woman in a white satin chemise lies asleep among embroidered cushions, seemingly oblivious to the scene. Through an arched doorway, illuminated domes and towers rise against the night sky. The composition juxtaposes domestic comfort, humour, politics, and national identity within an opulent Mediterranean atmosphere.

generated via ChatGPT

Trump lashes out at Spain during NATO summit and threatens trade relations (never mind that US–Spanish trade is conducted through the EU, as is the case for all EU member states); PM Sánchez's office responds with a shrug: ‘Business as usual’. {The Hill, 8 July}

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5958540-donald-trump-us-spain-trade/

What is with Donald Trump's obsession with how much individual NATO member states contribute? The (now-former) United States hath always been the alliance's largest and most powerful member, and from those who have much, much is expected, as the old proverb goes. America contributes the most because it possesses the most to give militarily, and by a considerable margin — though how long that remains true once this regime finishes decimating the Pentagon and Armed Services remains to be seen.

Prior to Trump, it was scarcely controversial that the US served as NATO's lynchpin, precisely because small European states lack the resources to defend themselves alone against the alliance's principal adversary: Mother Russia. And there lies the answer to why Trump works so relentlessly to undermine NATO. This is not rocket science, yet many refuse to say it aloud, dismiss those who do as conspiracy theorists, or simply cannot bring themselves to believe it. After all this time, the possibility remains unthinkable to them: that he is Putin's puppet (or the puppet of any number of foreign and domestic adversaries) and is actively working to weaken the United States from within.

The signs have been there for a decade — from the 2016 election, Cambridge Analytica, and the propaganda mills of St Petersburg, to the investigation conducted by Robert Mueller (RIP). Have we forgotten already? Apparently so, for here we are in bloody 2026, still cursed with this unholy bastard dominating our national life, the entire country revolving around his fragile ego while the self-proclaimed tough guys around us deride anyone who objects as a ‘snowflake’ or worse, and ninety per cent of the Christians tell us Jesus will send us to pits of Hades if we reject him.

As stated, however, once the Trump regime finishes dismantling America's armed forces, this endless argument over who is paying enough in global defence and who is not will become entirely moot.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Thursday, July 17, 2025

PACT OF FORGETTING: WHY THE #MAGA BASE, AND THE PEOPLE AND INSTITUTIONS OF THE FORMER UNITED STATES IN GENERAL, WILL NEVER ALLOW TRUMP AND ASSOCIATES TO FACE JUSTICE FOR (IN ALL LIKELIHOOD) VISITING EPSTEIN’S PAEDOPHILE ISLAND

Getty Images

Whilst some of them are grumbling, waiting for the #MAGA faithful to break permanently with their cult leader is a fool’s errand. I submit unequivocally: even if there were incontrovertible, undoctored video evidence of Trump sexually assaulting minors, 90% or more of his constituency would maintain their allegiance, provided he continues to sanction their licence to hate fellow Americans.

If disclosures of Russian electoral manipulation on his behalf in 2016 failed to unseat him, if his lamentable handling of this century’s gravest public health crisis proved insufficient, if his mendacious claims of electoral fraud and the January 6 insurrection they incited could not bring him down—then this matter certainly will not. ‘Teflon Don’ has never been a truer moniker.

Close enough to half of the populace in the former United States—the ruling plurality holding roughly 85% to 90% of the guns, and most of the political power—has declared this man infallible, and they will cling to that belief until the bitter end (and beyond, if any of us remain by then). Yes, humans really are this depraved. The past decade has proven we must grow up and confront this reality. The sooner we do, the sooner we might begin fixing this infernal mess. Or maybe not.

Expecting Congress to act on this in earnest—barring a few rogue figures—is as naïve as believing the American public will demand accountability. Given that countless such miscreants, alongside elites across commerce, religion, entertainment, sports, and media, likely frequented Little Saint James, exposing Trump would force them to expose themselves—and the fallout could theoretically collapse the entire system, obliterating everything Americans thought they knew.

Yet even if the full client list were made public, I doubt the American public could bear the sheer scale of it—the revelation that so many idolised figures were complicit in these horrors. Most would retreat into denial, attack the evidence, then ultimately demand their own Pact of Forgetting, much like Spain’s after Franco’s death and the collapse of Fascist rule in the mid-1970s.

Yes, it is that grave. Many are now too jaded to feel shock, having lost all faith in humanity (your correspondent leans decidedly this way, in case it wasn't obvious). The world's horrors come so thick and fast they've become a blur.

Democratic societies, when faced with truths too monstrous to bear, typically choose collective amnesia over painful moral reckoning. Here, it would simply occur on an unprecedented scale. Justice shall not be served—abandon all hope. —Arthur Newhook, 17 July 2025.

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 on X-TWITTER, and at the same handle on FACEBOOK. BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. REDDIT - https://www.reddit.com/r/StopTheIdiocracy/new/. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Friday, October 22, 2021

Twitter algorithms found to promote nationalist populist content over other political posts

Getty Images

Sure, let’s just keep whining that ‘big tech’ is biased against ‘conservatives,’ by all means (and they will.) Washington Post -

An internal evaluation of Twitter’s recommendation algorithms concluded that they amplify right-leaning political content more than left-leaning content, company researchers announced Thursday, undercutting allegations by many conservatives who contend they are being censored on the platform.
Twitter researchers analyzed millions of 2020 tweets by elected officials in seven countries — Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Britain and United States — as well as posts that linked to political content from news outlets. Researchers relied on outside experts to determine what was right- or left-leaning rather than deciding for themselves.
“Our results reveal a remarkably consistent trend: In 6 out of 7 countries studied, the mainstream political right enjoys higher algorithmic amplification than the mainstream political left,” the researchers said in a 27-page report. (Read more)