Stop the Idiocracy: Texas

Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts

Thursday, August 20, 2026

The night #Murica went dark

generated via ChatGPT

The entire US power grid is at substantial risk for a major blackout that could last as long as eighteen months. {Advance Local 20 August}

https://www.nj.com/news/2026/08/us-power-grid-at-risk-of-18-month-blackout-1-city-now-in-dark-for-more-than-a-week.html

Every facet of our lives would fundamentally change if the entire nation were to be deprived of electrical power for any extended duration. That is to say, those among us who would still remain alive to witness it: millions upon millions would perish in the interval. One would suddenly find oneself living within an entirely alien paradigm from what exists presently, and those who endured would emerge from the ordeal fundamentally transformed in every fibre of their being. The possibility of such an event no longer belongs solely to the realm of science fiction, if indeed it ever genuinely did. Our whole civilisation hath been erected upon a proverbial house of cards, and, sooner or later, the deck is going to collapse.

FTA: The United States power grid is at risk of a major blackout that could last up to 18 months, according to a new report. Concerns are heightened as one U.S. city has been without power for more than a week.

Jon Wellinghoff, former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), told The New York Times Magazine that America’s aging infrastructure is badly outdated and potentially vulnerable to a coordinated attack. He first raised the alarm in 2013 after gunmen shot up 17 transformers at an electrical substation near San Jose, California

Wellinghoff said the FERC did an analysis that determined the U.S. power grid could be seriously disrupted if similar incidents targeted the 10 most important substations in the country’s three sections: Western, Eastern and Texas Interconnections. Substations are where multiple high-volate (sic) lines meet, routing electricity between power plants, transmission lines, and local neighborhoods

“We came up with some very astounding numbers,” Wellinghoff told the publication. “If you knock out nine total substations along those three grids, you can black out the entire United States.”

Wellinghoff added that it didn’t matter which nine substations were hit, as long as they were among the 10 most important in its respective region. He told the NYT Magazine that even 12-year-olds could find them with a map on the internet, and anyone with enough guns could destroy them in 20 minutes.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Friday, August 14, 2026

The silence after the siren: food and agriculture in retreat

A richly detailed editorial illustration depicts female workers leaving a vast American meat-processing complex at sunset. In the foreground, a blonde woman in a white work coat and boots carries gloves and a metal case, glancing back with a troubled expression. Around her, other women embrace, carry personal belongings or sit dejectedly after apparently losing their jobs. An open processing plant, forklifts and hanging carcasses appear behind them, while several enormous industrial facilities recede across a dry, sparsely vegetated landscape. The melancholy golden light reinforces themes of closure, economic hardship and uncertainty within American food production.

image generated via ChatGPT

Tyson Foods is to close or divest three facilities, as a historic cattle shortage lays waste to the US meatpacking industry. {Reuters 13 August}

https://www.agriculture.com/partners-tyson-foods-says-it-will-close-sell-three-sites-amid-u-s-cattle-shortage-12059640

This, alongside the Taylor Farms lettuce debacle and other food-safety concerns that have been in the news of late — compounded by natural disasters and a cattle shortage of the utmost severity — constitutes merely the visible tip of the iceberg (no pun intended) as to what is about to befall American agriculture and food production; all made worse under a regime hell-bent upon dismantling regulatory safeguards at any cost. Tyranny assumes many guises, among them increasingly unsafe food, water, and medicine.

I hate to keep saying it (but not really): what y’all voted for, #Murica.

FTA: Tyson on Aug. 3 warned that losses in its beef business would widen as tight cattle supplies keep livestock costs elevated. It forecast an adjusted operating loss of $500 million to $650 million in fiscal 2026 for its beef business, compared with a previous forecast for a $350 million to $500 million loss.

Cattle supplies shrank to a 75-year low after a prolonged drought burned up grazing lands in the western U.S. and Washington suspended imports from Mexico in an attempt to keep out the flesh-eating livestock pest New World screwworm.

However, screwworms were detected in June on Texas farms and in New Mexico after moving north through Central America.

Facing pressure to lower consumer costs, the Trump administration said it plans to start lifting the import ban this month. The average retail price of one pound of lean and extra lean ground beef hit a record $8.65 in June, according to federal data.

“We have paid the economic price of a closed border, disrupted a cattle supply chain built over generations and screwworm still made it into the United States,” said Texas’s Miller.

It may take up to a year for Tyson to benefit from removing the ban because imported feeder cattle must spend time grazing on grass or being fattened in feedlots to get ready for slaughter, Tyson Chief Operating Officer Wes Morris said on a conference call last week.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

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 🕈

Saturday, July 25, 2026

Empty cupboards, heavy hearts

A warmly lit mid-century-style illustration shows a tall dark-haired woman comforting a much smaller blonde woman in a modest vintage kitchen. The taller woman, dressed in a cream cable-knit jumper and short beige skirt, wraps both arms protectively around the younger woman, gently cradling the back of her head as she stares ahead with quiet concern. The petite blonde, wearing a pink gingham summer dress and white sandals, buries her tear-streaked face against the taller woman's chest, clutching her tightly in visible distress. Around them, an old-fashioned refrigerator stands open with only a few basic items inside, while ration coupons and loose notes are scattered across the chrome-edged kitchen table beside a mixing bowl, suggesting growing financial hardship. Floral curtains, enamel cookware, worn cupboards, and soft afternoon sunlight reinforce the nostalgic domestic atmosphere, contrasting with the emotional weight of the embrace.

image generated via ChatGPT

#Murica: consumers adapt to the largest hike in grocery prices in fifty years by cutting back, sometimes drastically. {AP 25 July}

https://apnews.com/article/grocery-shopping-prices-food-affordability-8468c1d6532ca762bbcfa17e3c7707d1

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Steaks, sermons, and socialism

generated via ChatGPT

Ron Paul: Trump polices ‘just as, if not more, dangerous to liberty and prosperity as anything proposed by Mamdani or Sanders’. {Ron Paul Institute 13 July}

https://ronpaulinstitute.org/congressional-ratification-of-president-trumps-corporatism/

Ron Paul: yes, he is still alive, and not at all wrong in the following assessment. I wish more folks would start making this point:

“Despite regularly denouncing the rising socialist menace, President Trump has been pursuing a policy arguably just as, if not more, dangerous to liberty and prosperity as anything proposed by Zohran Mamdani or Bernie Sanders: using government funds to purchase partial ownership of private companies.”

Here is a little secret that many people do not wish to admit: Trump's voters are perfectly comfortable with socialism, provided it is not openly labelled ‘socialism’ and provided its benefits flow primarily to them rather than to the ‘wrong’ people. They will tolerate endless wars and reckless government spending so long as Daddy Trump tells them society's problems are the fault of liberals, immigrants, and LGBT people, and gives them permission to hate. They will tolerate it so long as their churches continue telling them that Jesus supports Trump and therefore they must as well.

So long as social and cultural grievances remain foremost in these people's minds, they will continue running back to Daddy Trump — and to whatever demagogue eventually follows in his wake.

Ron Paul, Thomas Massie, and only a scant few others represent the remnants of a strain of uncompromising libertarianism that is now nearly extinct. One need not agree with all of their views or policy prescriptions — I certainly do not — but when they call a spade a spade and sound the alarm about what government ownership of previously private companies means for both the economy and individual liberty, fair people ought to give them a fair hearing.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Monday, July 13, 2026

The burden of false guardians

generated via ChatGPT

White Christianity having been thoroughly hijacked by #MAGA, a remnant of pastors with a conscience run in Democratic primaries. {AFP 13 July}

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/democratic-pastors-run-reclaim-jesus-013012065.html

Godspeed to these individuals, but they have a very long and steep hill to climb if they believe American Christianity is going to be reformed any time soon. Indeed, they may even be placing themselves in genuine physical and legal danger. The seeds were planted long ago; now, so to speak, the harvest is underway.

Many within the younger generations are being indoctrinated into Christian Nationalism, and informed by violent anti-Semites and misogynists such as Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes. When the youngest members of that movement eventually come to power in force, they may unleash waves of repression across this country — and beyond — that are scarcely imaginable to the average Western citizen today. The Democratic Party should have confronted the political and cultural right's successful hijacking of Christianity and patriotism decades ago. To attempt to reverse the process now is too little and far too late for a party that is itself, in all likelihood, headed for the ash heap of history.

Furthermore, I am no longer entirely certain that Jesus is opposed to any of this. Perhaps He is simply allowing these travesties to unfold as judgement upon an empire — not so much a nation as an empire — of hypocrites, sinners, and liars. I am almost certain that He hath forsaken this polyglot realm of the former United States (still known as such in name, of course), and entirely certain that He hath hated me from the day of my birth. As a nation, at least — I shall deal with my own spiritual house, thank you — seeking His favour at this point seems a futile endeavour.

In other words, America increasingly appears a lost cause, and I believe it is so. And if so many people genuinely desire their Christian Nationalist utopia, then perhaps we ought to carve out a large swathe of this empire — a substantial portion of the South and Midwest, sacrifices notwithstanding — and allow them to build it in earnest, no more ‘woke’ folk to get in the way. Raise a wall around and keep their citizens the hell out of everybody else’s lands. As someone living in Massachusetts, I have no desire to be governed by such people, nor to watch them continue to poison the well for the rest of us.

Again, though, good on these pastors for trying. If I lived in any of those states, I would not hesitate to give them my vote — even in vain. After all, it seems to me there have been many times through the years I have voted for candidates and ballot questions that I knew were going to lose, so do not mistake my cynicism for lack of approval… perhaps there is even some mild enthusiasm here.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Friday, July 10, 2026

The woman who said no

A formal portrait of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum standing in an ornate government office. She wears a cream-coloured dress with embroidered details on the sleeves and a presidential sash in the colours of the Mexican flag, featuring the national coat of arms. Her hands are clasped before her as she gazes slightly to one side with a composed expression. Behind her are dark wooden bookcases filled with books, carved architectural details, and a Mexican flag positioned beside a large desk. Warm lighting highlights the rich wood panelling and ceremonial atmosphere, conveying authority, dignity, and the formality of high office.

World Economic Forum

Sheinbaum vows legal action against the former United States after a Mexican national is killed in Houston by ICE agents. {click2houston 10 July}

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2026/07/08/mexican-president-vows-legal-action-against-us-after-ices-shooting-death-of-lorenzo-salgado-araujo-in-houston/

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Monday, July 6, 2026

The return of an old scourge and the lessons we forgot

A warmly lit, nostalgic hospital-room illustration depicts a compassionate red-haired nurse attending to a young blonde woman recovering in bed. The nurse, dressed in a traditional white uniform and cap, gently places a cool cloth upon the patient’s forehead while resting her other hand reassuringly on the bedding. The patient reclines against crisp white pillows beneath neatly arranged sheets, gazing upward with an expression that combines fatigue, vulnerability, and gratitude. A red spotted rash is visible across her face, neck, shoulders, and upper chest, indicating illness. Sunlight filters through a nearby window, illuminating floral curtains, polished wooden furnishings, glass medicine bottles, and a vintage metal bed frame. Rich golden tones and careful period detail evoke a mid-twentieth-century atmosphere of attentive care, quiet dignity, and human compassion in the face of sickness.

generated via ChatGPT

Measles returns with a vengeance in the former US, 25 years after ‘elimination’, forcing doctors to relearn how to combat it. {Washington Post 6 July}

https://wapo.st/4gjahFm

Entirely shameful, and entirely preventable. Religious freedom should not mean religious supremacy. As was demonstrated very clearly during the COVID pandemic, these anti-vaxxers and assorted types chanting muh freedumb do not believe in the freedom of others to be protected from them and their bloody germs. Liberty to them is the liberty to impose themselves on others. They are the types who blast obnoxious music at all hours of the day, and become offended when asked to stop and shout ‘it’s a free country!’ They have been the types, throughout my thankless life, who have hassled me at every turn when my aching psyche just wants everything around me to slow the hell down and quiet down. Respect for others is tyranny to these people, and all too many of them out there.

Hell, most Americans — and not even merely the anti-vaxxers and Christofascists — could not even handle the simple concept of social distancing. They would be miserable living in Germany, where quiet on Sundays is simply a societal custom that doth not need enforcing by law; it is just respected by nearly all people.

Call me insane, in what we are still told is the most prosperous and educated nation on earth — obviously less and less true with each passing year, but stay with me — for expecting to be able to step outside and be reasonably certain I am not going to contract a deadly disease on any given day. Diagnose me with 'TDS' if some simple civility and respect for others is infringing upon the individual ‘rights’ of lunatics, bullies, religious zealots, and other assorted tyrants of society who make up the Trump/GOP base. Call me a bigot against people of faith — and I do consider myself a Christian, albeit a very poor and not particularly devout one, and my faith is not particularly strong at present — if the right of the general public to be protected against a scourge that was supposed to have been eliminated decades ago is less important than the feelings of bigamists, cultists, and all these assorted and dangerous weirdos who are only growing in number in this most horrific of timelines.

Somebody shoot me, I am so over all of this bulls**t.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

The Dallas ultimatum: Trump announces GOP mid-term convention, the cost of falling out of line — or, falling in line — to be great

A detailed digital illustration of a tense political confrontation in a luxurious high-rise office overlooking downtown Dallas at night. Centre standeth a petite pink-haired woman, her delicate features streaked with tears as she clutcheth her chest, overwhelmed. Dressed in a pale pink, semi-transparent nightdress, she appeareth vulnerable amid wealth and intrigue. About her are three taller, impeccably dressed women in executive attire: one in navy points to the skyline; one in white presenteth reports with political imagery; one in red standeth with folded arms, watching sternly. Their confident postures contrast with her uncertainty. American décor, chandeliers, and patriotic drapery reinforce the setting. Authority, influence, and emotional state—a dramatic allegory of power, responsibility, and public pressure during a pivotal political gathering.

generated via ChatGPT

Trump announces first-ever GOP mid-term convention. {The Guardian 30 June}

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/30/trump-republican-convention-midterms-dallas

Get ready for the mother of all gaslighting campaigns. And it shall work. Guaranteed. I have said it before, and must say it again: it is the Democratic Party, not Trump and the GOP, that is the most hated faction in this nation. Of course, millions hate Trump and millions hate the Republicans, but not anywhere near in number or close in intensity to those who view the Democrats as mortal enemies. Hence, they shall not be satisfied until the enemy is completely wiped out. Then, they shall start turning on each other.

Trump's success has never been solely about Trump. It has always depended upon millions of Americans who either support him enthusiastically or repeatedly excuse conduct that would be unacceptable from anyone else. Abandon all hope, for this is what ‘y’all’ voted for, #Murica.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

The price of vigilantism

A bleak cinematic illustration of six young women confined within a grim, overcrowded prison cell. Wearing worn orange uniforms stained by dirt, they sit or stand beneath harsh light from a small barred window. Metal shackles encircle wrists and ankles; thick chains link them to one another and to steel bunks. Exhaustion, resignation, sorrow, and strain mark their faces. One sitteth alone on a lower bunk, head bowed; another croucheth on the floor in quiet despair. At right, two prisoners embrace for comfort—solidarity amid harshness. Rusted walls, bare steel, and a metal toilet reinforce oppression. Muted colours, dramatic shadows, weathered textures—confinement, punishment, endurance, and the fragile human need for companionship under extreme adversity.

generated via ChatGPT

“A group of Texas protesters convicted of terrorism charges received harsh sentences of at least 50 years in prison Tuesday in a closely watched case that was widely seen as a test case of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on dissent.” {The Guardian 23 June}

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/23/prairieland-ice-protesters-texas-sentenced

Four sentences of fifty years, another of seventy, and one of a full one hundred years. These were not mere protesters, as several of them committed extreme acts of vandalism at a detention centre in Alvarado, Texas, and an officer was targeted with an AR-15.

These are not heroes, and vigilantism is not to be celebrated or encouraged. Thus, while I do not wish to condone the heavy-handed actions of the Trump regime and ICE in their treatment of human beings, I cannot shed any tears for these individuals, though I am not entirely convinced that the sentences fit the crimes.

The left-wing militant groups of the 1960s and 1970s were, so far as I can tell, far more organised and did employ violence, yet many of their members ultimately received relatively light punishments, if any at all, and some later found positions in academia. Bill Ayers, for instance, who perhaps should have spent a lifetime in prison, but the world did not spin off its axis because he was released. Patty Hearst, to use another example, would never see the light of day again if that sordid affair went down today.

The testimony in this case revealed that these were largely unorganised, or at best loosely organised, rabble-rousers. These lengthy sentences are thin cover for the regime and its cult followers in the general population to eventually label all dissent under the almost entirely mythical banner of ‘Antifa’, and therefore criminal.

What people need to realise, but are not getting at all, is that there is an absolute chilling effect created by the far right’s ceaseless bemoaning of ‘woke’ bogeymen. Why is it that these right-wing populist types are forever championing freedom of speech, yet spend so much of their time attempting to silence others? Very simply, they care about their freedoms, and not yours or mine.

At some point during the past decade, I do remember, a handful of left-wing radicals did begin calling themselves ‘Antifa’, and a few of those same types used ‘woke’ as a descriptor. A very small number of ideologues, largely concentrated in academia and similar circles, and yet the other side hath successfully used those labels to demonise mainstream liberals, Democrats, anyone to their left, and anyone who criticises their god-king Trump.

It is the ‘you are either with us or against us’ mentality of a movement centred upon a sick man who demands complete loyalty from the citizenry and all around him, and who will go to greater and greater lengths to secure that loyalty as his desperation grows. With millions of dangerous people — cult followers — all too eager to back him up, and most of the general public too tired and cowed to offer any resistance.

And when the #MAGA militias start slaughtering ordinary people left and right, we shall partially have these morons from the far left to blame for helping make it possible.

These are not heroes being sentenced today. They are not to be celebrated, and they are too foolish to realise that they are playing directly into the hands of those who would enslave humanity for their own enrichment (in which they are largely succeeding). Useful idiots for a corrupt government held hostage by international criminals.

Violent thugs are violent thugs, whatever it may be that drives them. The flip side of the same coin as the thugs who stormed the Capitol on 6 January 2021. Congratulations. Enjoy thy prison stays.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Thursday, June 18, 2026

The republic in the recovery ward

A polished retro-style illustration of a military medical ward during a flu outbreak. Four nurses in crisp white uniforms move among rows of beds caring for recovering servicemen. Foreground, a blonde nurse gently presseth a cool cloth to a soldier’s forehead. Behind, a brunette nurse offereth water to another patient sitting upright. Farther down, two more nurses tend to bedridden men beneath blue-grey blankets. Large windows fill the room with warm daylight, illuminating metal beds, IV stands, and spotless furnishings. The soldiers appear tired but reassured. Compassion, professionalism, and human connection—nostalgic mid-century medical imagery, soft lighting, and calm resilience amid illness and recovery.

generated via ChatGPT

‘A major flu outbreak has sickened nearly 160 troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas less than two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that U.S. troops would no longer be required to be vaccinated for the flu’. {NYT 18 June}

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/us/flu-outbreak-air-force-base.html?unlocked_article_code=1.rFA.Q81W.RstIwquP1M61&smid=url-share

Expect to see many more headlines such as this in the years to come, as this gaggle of malevolent idiots and traitors continues decimating the Armed Forces (and everything else in its path). What you people voted for.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

A symphony for the open range

A detailed fantasy illustration of resilience, innovation, and agricultural stewardship in the modern American West. Foreground standeth a confident ranch-inspired woman with flowing dark hair, a cream cowboy hat, and a sleeveless denim outfit with an ornate Western belt. One hand extendeth toward the horizon; the other cradlet a cluster of glowing golden lights—knowledge, technology, hope. Behind stretcheth a Texas cattle landscape of herds, ranch roads, windmills, and mesas. Luminous pathways connect ranchers, livestock, vehicles, and field stations. Above, floating cities, celestial whirlpools, and a colossal ringed planet create a progressive-rock dreamscape. Warm gold, cream, and sapphire tones blend Western iconography with cosmic fantasy—determination, cooperation, and the safeguarding of rural livelihoods amid extraordinary trials.

generated via ChatGPT

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins claims US food supply not at risk after second case of screwworm infection confirmed in Texas. {CNBC 8 June}

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/08/texas-screwworm-cases-food-supply-brooke-rollins.html

In other words, be concerned. Very concerned. Blind faith in institutions ends rather badly when those institutions cease deserving it. Absolutely nothing emerging from this regime should be accepted uncritically. Nothing. Every announcement, every assurance, every triumphant declaration: all are lies.

As for agriculture, I suspect we have scarcely glimpsed the beginning of the story. Our way of life is utterly dependent upon a stable and productive food supply.

Civilisations rarely collapse because people suddenly forget how to govern. More often, they discover that governing becomes considerably more difficult once harvests fail, supply chains fracture, costs spiral, and confidence evaporates. Food is not merely another commodity. It is the foundation upon which every other political, economic, and social arrangement ultimately rests. The health of a nation's fields frequently tells one more about its future than the speeches delivered in its capitals.

I am not a religious zealot, yet I confess to observing events unfolding across the world and finding myself wondering whether humanity hath become rather too pleased with itself. We are in an age of astonishing technological achievement, yet one of extraordinary arrogance. We often – too many of us, at least – behave as though every natural law has been conquered, every consequence postponed, every warning rendered obsolete. A society that ignores every warning because it finds those warnings inconvenient eventually discovers that reality is under no obligation to respect political narratives, ideological preferences, or comforting illusions.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Saturday, June 6, 2026

Daisy and the last brisket in Texas

A detailed surrealist illustration blending mid-century pin-up with 1970s progressive-rock art. Foreground, a tearful blonde cowgirl beneath a cream hat, her curled hair lit by amber light. She weareth a fitted ivory corset top and frayed denim shorts—exhaustion, frustration, resilience. Behind stretcheth a Texas barbecue landscape of smokers, grills, cattle pens, and smoke. The sky erupteth into nebulae, Saturn, floating mesas, and impossible rock formations. Enormous cuts of smoked brisket and oversized grilling utensils drift through the heavens. Warm oranges, golds, violets, and smoky blues dominate. Distant cattle, smoke plumes, and glowing horizons speak of scarcity, labour, and cultural tradition under strain. Richly layered, theatrical, and emotionally charged.

generated via ChatGPT

Are we 'great' again yet? Texas BBQ joints close as beef prices soar amid 75-year low cattle supply and Iran war costs. {ABC News 5 June}

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/food/story/texas-pitmasters-express-concern-amid-beef-shortages-rising-133612016

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Sycophancy in the deep red: the #MAGA base proves yet again they shall never abandon Trump

$Political and civilisational collapse rendered operatic, almost liturgical. Four women in flowing crimson gather amid ruins like priestesses or mourners presiding over empire’s end. Their intertwined poses yield ecstatic grief—sensual, devotional, catastrophic. Red dominateth: blood, revolution, empire, sacrifice. Ribbons snake like torn banners binding them as one symbolic entity. Behind, classical columns collapse, maps rupture, crowds surge, spiral voids open—one vortex holding a silhouetted authoritarian. The women, glamorous yet exhausted, show yearning and surrender. The central red-haired figure tilteth her face skyward in exaltation and despair. Dense linework, fractured debris, swirling cosmos—medieval and futuristic. Beauty and collapse are one. Apocalypse is theatrical, erotic, human—meaning sought even as the world fractur'th beneath.$

generated via Gemini

{Texas Tribune 26 May} Ken Paxton defeats John Cornyn for US Senate GOP nomination

Sen. Cornyn's primary defeat this evening in Texas, and Rep. Thomas Massie's last week in Kentucky, reinforces that voters in these deep-red states and regions are, more so than ever, sheep — pathetically sycophantic, doing whatever Daddy Trump tells them, with no critical thought whatsoever. It is the #MAGA rank and file, above all others, who have condemned this country to catastrophe, and who must be held to account, starting ten years ago. They did not have to fall for the world's most transparent conman in 2016, then double down, triple down, and quadruple down on their support over the course of a bloody decade. Roughly a third of the population wants the rest of us dead, and now has the country by the proverbial throat; this is why they will never abandon Trump, not even if he murders their own children and grandchildren. These malevolents may yet get their ultimate wish. Abandon all hope: it is only getting worse with each passing day, as I always knew it would from the moment this long national, and global, nightmare began.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Justice temporarily served: Alex Jones loses in court yet again, but do not be misled into thinking that he and his kind are going away or shall ever face true consequences

Photo: CBS News

A Houston judge has ruled that all of Infowars’ assets are to be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the defamed Sandy Hook families {CBS News 25 September}

For likely the final time, justice appears to have prevailed in Texas—albeit only very partially, as Alex Jones remains free and shall never face true accountability, given that this Putin-backed cabal of theocrats and fascists (of which Jones is part and parcel) are about to be granted full control of the US by popular consent. It pains me, and enrages me, to have to acknowledge that the Sandy Hook families shall never receive the compensation they deserve; they shall continue to face harassment and demonisation by far right zealots (and possibly by federal agencies once they have been purged and replaced with Trump loyalists), as they have for over a decade now, and will continue to be shunned by the American people. Alex Jones is going to remain in business for a long time to come, profiting while millions in this shameful realm of #Murica, and countless souls around the globe, suffer the consequences of the division, evil, and malice he has been so instrumental in sowing.

Recent headlines:

Trump throws temper tantrum disparaging federal law enforcement and demanding the State of Florida to assume control of the investigation into the (second) assassination attempt. {WP 23 September}

Trump suggests non-citizens will be given ‘serial numbers’ pending deportation. {TNR 23 September}

Michael Cohen, former Trump 'fixer' who later testified against him, is planning to leave the US when Trump returns to office - Also warns other prominent Trump critics, including Liz Cheney, to consider leaving the country now. {Boing Boing 25 September}

More confirmation that Russia, Iran, and China employ AI tools to sow chaos in US politics, especially to undermine Kamala Harris - Such meddling has been public knowledge since 2016, yet gullible and eager right-wing Americans shall continue to lap up these lies, facts be damned, so long as these foreign actors remain unchecked. Hence, how and why an elderly convicted felon is going to win back the White House and a bloody civil war is coming. {WP 23 September}

Zelensky: Russians are using Chinese satellites to photograph Ukrainian nuclear plants in advance of potential strike. {ABC News 24 September}

Russia’s Duma takes up legislation that would fine individuals and legal entities for spreading ‘childfree ideology’. {News.az 24 September}

‘Free speech absolutist’ Elon Musk has complied with gov’t censorship demands on X more than Twitter did before his ownership. {WP 24 September}

‘US intelligence has warned Donald Trump of "real and specific" threats from Iran to assassinate him’. {AFP 24 September}

Even after the events of 6 January 2021, and with civil war looming, Congress still does not have a comprehensive plan for continuing operations in the event of a mass casualty incident. {Politico 23 September}

Nowhere in #Murica is safe from redneck bulls**t (quite literally): Final bull that escaped from rodeo at Massachusetts mall captured. {WCVB 23 September}

Study reveals no heightened risk of autism in children born during the first year of the COVID pandemic. {CIDRAP 24 September}

CDC: Severe obesity continues to soar in #Murica, particularly among women. {AP 24 September}

Severe flooding in central Europe provides a deadly preview of the future impacts of global warming. {BBC 25 September}

Copyright 2024, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Friday, September 6, 2024

Is Kamala Harris within striking distance in Texas and Florida?

NEW POLL SHOWS FLORIDA, TEXAS WITHIN MARGIN OF ERROR IN HARRIS-TRUMP RACE {The Hill 6 September}

Polls are garbage, and I trust what my instincts continue to tell me: this is a nation beset with malevolence, anger, and ugliness. Trump embodies what America has become, which is why so many millions identify with him and remain so steadfastly loyal. This is also an undeniably racist and misogynistic country. Had one asked me before Trump’s rise to power, I would have dismissed that notion, but it turns out that half the country decided it would be an excellent idea to conform to every negative stereotype and perception of this nation and its people. Nevertheless, my instincts have been wrong on rare occasions, and it is vital that the American people prove me wrong this time. Otherwise, it will be national suicide.

Saturday, May 6, 2023

Another in a long string of mass shootings in America: Gunman kills an ‘unknown number’ at Dallas-area outlet mall

KARE

One way or another, this has to stop. FTA: ‘A gunman stepped out of a silver sedan and began shooting people at an outlet mall in the Dallas suburb of Allen, Texas, on Saturday, killing an unknown number and sending hundreds of shoppers fleeing in panic in the latest gun violence to strike the country.’ {AP 5/06}

Monday, April 17, 2023

President Biden’s industrial policy begins to bear fruit

Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

‘The US appears poised for a manufacturing boom as companies tap into Biden administration subsidies with pledges to spend tens of billions of dollars on new projects.’ {FT 4/17} - https://www.ft.com/content/b6cd46de-52d6-4641-860b-5f2c1b0c5622

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Odds and ends: Yet more evidence the ‘Big Lie’ is just that, something smells rotten in the State of Texas, and more

CNN

Covering their tracks, just like good ole’ boys do: Uvalde school district police chief stops cooperating with state investigators - The narrative keeps changing, seemingly on an hourly basis. Did someone leave a door open, or did they not? Such evasion and confusion only fuels conspiracy theories and further mistrust. (Texas Tribune 5/31)

Rebecca Solnit: U.S. mass shootings will continue until the majority can overrule the minority - Yes, the GOP has become a large death cult. Albeit, a heavily armed and extremely dangerous one. (The Guardian 5/30)

Supreme Court issues emergency stay against Texas law ostensibly protecting free speech on social media platforms - The Texas law is a thinly veiled attempt to shield white supremacists and various other far-right zealots from liability, and Twitter, Facebook, etc., are private companies and can prohibit users from their platforms as they see fit. ‘Conservatives’ used to understand these sorts of things, before their brains turned to orange mush. (Politico 5/31)

Carolyn Kaster/AP

CISA: No evidence of hacking of Dominion voting machines in 2020 presidential election - Will Trump, the GOP, and #Cult45 finally give it a rest now with the Big Lie? Hell no, they won’t. (Washington Post 5/28)

Democratic Party lawyer Michael Sussman acquitted on charges of lying to the FBI (BBC News 5/31)

Christian nationalism on the rise in some GOP campaigns - I am a Christian, albeit a really bad one. But, these fundamentalists are becoming every bit as dangerous as the Islamists who have so perverted their faith and caused so much carnage around the world. They must be stopped. (AP 5/28)

Guns now the leading cause of death for American children, and America is broken beyond repair, but at least we’re not Russia

Marco Bello/Reuters

CDC: Guns are now the leading cause of death for American children - Nothing will be done. The far-right makes up, approximately, 40% of the overall population, and upwards of 80% or more of the rural population. They are, by far, the largest percentage of gun owners, and their ranks include many police officers and military personnel. The Constitution is written in such a way that privileges small states and rural areas over cities. The Supreme Court is heavily biased in their favor. Most of the state legislatures are controlled by the GOP, and they are gerrymandering congressional maps anywhere and everywhere they can get away with doing so. They may not control academia, the entertainment industry, or pop culture in general (though they are working hard to change all of that), but politically and legally they have this country by the proverbial balls. January 6, 2021, was just a taste of what is to come, and the rank-and-file of #Cult45 are just waiting for the word to begin slaughtering the rest of us. I’ve been saying all along, dating back years, that America is a lost cause. Yet we still have to fight: After all, we will eventually have to give an account to God of whether we stood up to evil, or helped facilitate it. I am not anti-gun and would be opposed to just outlawing them altogether; but some basic measures to ensure to the greatest extent possible that only trained, qualified, and law-abiding individuals are allowed to possess them would not be an ‘infringement’ on the Second Amendment. No private citizen needs to own weapons of war, such as an AR-15. All rights come with responsibilities and limits, so do tell why gun ownership should be exempt? But, as I said, nothing is going to happen, except more bloodshed. America today is akin to places like Iran, much of the Middle East, Russia, etc., where ignorance and superstition is increasingly becoming enforced, and intellect and reason are gradually being suppressed. Go down fighting. (Axios 5/26)

Damon Winter/NYT

Michelle Goldberg: America may be broken beyond repair - Do ‘we simply stumble on, helpless as things keep getting worse?’ That has been the state of affairs for a couple of decades now, but simmering rage can only build up for so long before it explodes. It is very hard to see any scenario now where the country can heal these riffs and be held together. Therefore, the question becomes: Is this union worth persevering, or would it be for the best for the United States to be dissolved and a series of new, smaller states to emerge from its ashes? If it is the latter, there will be extreme disparities between the new states that emerge in terms of their economies, laws, standards of living, and so forth; and there will be bloody wars between some of these states from time-to-time. If one looks at the history of Europe over the centuries - and even within the last 100 years - borders are constantly changing, alliances come and go, and those processes always entail great conflict and bloodshed. So, just breaking America up does not guarantee there will no longer be strife between the peoples of this vast continent. But it would appear people in New England, or California, or in Chicago no longer want to be ruled over by people from the rural South and Midwest, and vice versa. Each side wants to impose their lifestyles and values (or lack thereof) upon the other, neither is in the least bit interested any longer in compromise and going along to get along. Something will have to give. (New York Times 5/27)

Yuri Kochetkov/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/WP

Russians face prospect of Soviet-style shortages as sanctions bite - Excerpt: ‘Stung by Western sanctions, Russia is starting to devolve into a secondhand economy dependent on poor substitutes, where shortages are stirring memories of the consumer wasteland that was the Soviet Union. While it may be able to find new purveyors for some Western-made goods and components in friendly countries such as China and India, Russia is increasingly determined to make its own — returning to policies of import substitution that yielded a vast, if globally uncompetitive, industrial complex before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Already, Moscow is facing serious challenges.’ (Washington Post 5/26)

Roger Dean

Fourteen warning signs that you are living in a society without a counterculture - Serious food for thought here. We are not living in a vibrant culture that rewards independent thought and creativity. I think that’s something we all should be ashamed of, and be working to fix. (Ted Gioia 5/28)

Rest in Peace, Alan White: Hall of Fame drummer of YES fame dies at 72 (AP 5/26)

This is beautiful. The Beach Boys serenade Alan White, sometime within the past few years. RIP to a great drummer and human being.

Never really 'got' The Band, and I believe that holds true for most who came after that '60s generation. But, any musician who had a positive impact on peoples' lives as Ronnie Hawkins did deserves to be celebrated. (CBC News 5/29)