The Nodfather

Don Snorleone is...

THE NODFATHER 

 "Make Him an Offer He Can't... Zzzzzz"

It's always projection... All the talk about "Sleepy Joe Biden," & now this stroked-out old fool is dozing off in multiple public, televised meetings.

I saw the moniker "The Nodfather", most popularly used by CA Gov. Gavin Newsome, & thought I would use my ultra-refined graphic design abilities to create a proper meme for it.

I take great pride in my political shitposts. Most people may not the notice the tiny puppeteer hand that I reduced, but it's a detail I couldn't ignore. I also almost posted this image completely in black & white, but then I went back to look at the original Godfather poster, & saw his red flower. So, I had to add the obvious splash of red on this one, too.

This mf'er is gonna sleepwalk us into a conflict in South America, international pariahship, & domestic economic disaster at the trajectory he's taking us. The worst of it is, that he's desperate to distract from the Epstein scandal, & the fact that he is a depraved lunatic who by all indicators abused underage girls. 

We are truly living in a bizarre, horrible joke of a timeline.

 

Trump Derangement Syndrome: Patient Zero

 

Trump Derangement Syndrome-Patient Zero 

 Can you wrap your head around what a narcissistic asshole you have to be to wear a stupid red had that says you were "...Right About Everything"??? 

It's unbelievable that anyone could wear such a thing without a clue as to the absurdity of how it appears. Just him wearing this hat  proves that Trump is an idiot & completely demented. One tactic that has been used to discredit anyone who disagrees with him has been to label his critics as suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome", or "TDS". This is truly some next-level projection, as there is no one in the public eye as unhinged & deranged as Donald J. Trump.

So I made this graphic to illustrate my observation that any derangement regarding Trump has directly emanated from him, "Patient Zero", the most deranged of them all. The people who unquestioningly accept the rambling lies of this con-man & wannabe dictator are much more out of touch with reality than those who criticize him.

Global society has been hijacked by the mental illness of one man, and he truly is the major vector for the spread of absolute madness & degeneracy throughout the world.

Silver Surfer's Solitude

The Silver Surfer was always one of my favorite comic book characters. Besides his awesome cosmic powers, he has the ability to travel in hyperspace throughout the Universe.

I saw this incredible image of the Silver Surfer floating through interstellar space, & it kinda blew my mind. I never considered the extreme level of solitude that he would experience if he stopped to float in the directionless void.

It's hard to imagine the feeling of floating through space completely alone, not being anywhere within light years of another living being, or even another celestial body. I guess if you knew you could just use faster-than-light travel to get anywhere you want, it wouldn't be too scary. Still, there would have to be some sense of existential dread from the sheer magnitude of the situation.

Anyway, I thought it was a great image- although I don't know the source (despite searching for it). It's one of those pictures you can get completely lost in.  

NO KINGS

 

(After looking at the original, & thinking how I could improve it, I made this black & gold version of the graphic.)

 

In light of the upcoming "NO KINGS" protests & demonstrations going on across the country this weekend, I created this graphic to act as a kind of logo for the movement.

 

The majority of the population is rightfully upset by the blatant lawlessness & shameless corruption of the Trump Republicans™ currently in control of the government. 

I've been a professional graphic designer for decades, and I know how powerful bold simplicity can be. Memes are like mind viruses, & the easier it is to replicate, the more effective it is. I wanted to make an icon that is both instantly recognizable, but simple enough to use in a variety of ways. 

Trump's dumb-ass profile is surprisingly easy to represent as line art, so it helps make it more iconic. I only used 2 colors to keep it graphically bold. Besides the ridiculous hair, I used gold for the crown & necktie- 2 symbols of elitist power.

To combat the forces of authoritarianism and the straight-up psychopaths who are in positions of power, citizens need to continue to speak out, organize, and use their skills or talents to promote decency & the common good.

I hope the NO KINGS events can remain peaceful. There is a lot of thuggery afoot, and there are sadists on power trips who would get off on escalating violence.

Hopefully, people will want to share this graphic, get it printed, & use it at the demonstrations... The image above is high resolution, and I'm even offering an editable & print-ready .PDF file at the link below:

NO KINGS Fool's Gold.PDF 

ICE Stormtroopers

Star Wars taught me everything I need to know about Masked Stormtroopers!

What is happening in the United States of Trump™, with secret police rounding people up off the streets with no warrants or even probable cause, is Fascism 101. I was able to understand that even as a child, seeing how the stormtrooper checkpoint on Tatooine instilled fear into the population. 

How are people targeted by these goon squads supposed to know that they are even really law enforcement, or that they will be processed through legitimate channels & procedures? 

All local, state, & federal law enforcement should be required by law to display their faces, identification, a body cam, and maybe even a QR code badge that links to a national database.

This would allow citizens to instantly verify that the person is not just a malicious actor who is impersonating an officer. The penalty for not complying would be jail time.

This is in my dream world, of course - where we do not have authoritarian psychos in charge. 

A Moment of Serenity

 A Moment of Serenity

 A metaphor for parenthood (...& life, in general).

 

Video by Paul M. Micarelli 
Starring Paul G. Micarelli

 

Neonna Loretta Micarelli - Monthly Smiles with Daddy: Year 1 (2023-2024)

 

My daughter Neonna recently had her 2nd birthday. She has been smiling since she was a newborn, & she brings a smile to the face of everyone she meets. I started taking pics of us every month to follow our happy journey, and this video documents her first year of smiles. 

 

Neonna is a bright, shiny soul who is full of light. We thought that after my son Paulie, who is a ball of energy, that maybe she would be the mellow one... yeah, that was some wishful thinking! Although she is definitely not as much of a maniac as my son, she is still a wild child in her own way.

Her first word was "Da-Da" 💖 & now she is starting to talk, pretending to have conversations in babble language on her play phone. She's a strong little girl, running around trying to keep up with her big brother, and also beating the crap out of him when he inevitably crosses the line and pisses her off. She's very active- she's dribbling soccer balls, has an impressive throwing arm, climbs on everything & loves swinging like a monkey on rings or the trapeze! 

She's also super-strong-minded, and is already a sassy force to be reckoned with. When she points her finger and says to me "No, Daddy!" I feel like I'm dealing with a teenager already. We gave her the nickname "Gromulus the Gremlin" for whenever she gets into goblin mode, which can be very crazy. She calls herself "Ya-Ya", which I guess is her trying to pronounce "Neonna". Everybody thinks it's hilarious & we all call her Ya-Ya now.

Maybe Neonna will have a creative nature like me; she already points out & says colors and loves to draw (scribble). The thing that really blows my mind is how she already has a sense of humor, before she can really talk. How do kids know what is funny & how to be funny?? It's a weird thing, but amazing to observe. 

My wife and I feel so blessed to have this beautiful little girl in our life. We just look at her in awe, and ask each other how we created such a perfect being. I have continued this fun project into year 2, so I will post that video soon. 

Here is a link to the photo album, where I hope to continue to add pics of me & my sweet little pumpkin:

 Neonna Loretta Micarelli - Monthly Smiles with Daddy
by Paul Micarelli 

Playground Mushrooms

Nature Photography

by Paul Micarelli 

I was at the park with my kids, and saw these mushrooms popping up through the mulch. 

Recently I was listening to an epsisode of the Psychedelic Salon with Paul Stamets, and the information about the biology and environmental chemistry of fungi was amazing. The mushroom is just fruiting part of the fungus that produces the spores. The underground mycelia is a huge part of the organism that we don't even usually see. There are all kinds of complex signals and activity going on in the soil, spurred by the fungi's subterranean bionet.

Pervs of a Feather

"Pervs of a Feather..."
by The Monkey Buddha 

Spurred on by all the current news stories about "The Epstein Files," I made this image of the connection between Donald Trump & Jeffrey Epstein, two depraved vultures who have preyed on countless victims, especially young girls. 

Anyone who knew anything about Trump's past and the reality of his character knew that he was a  scumbag, both in business & in his personal life. I'm not going to expound on the countless allegations & factual events demonstrating this point. The footage of him & Epstein together have been around forever, along with the abundance of other evidence of their association. Based on Epstein's known sex trafficking operations, that is more than enough proof of Trump's sleaziness. As a father of a little daughter, these disgusting freaks make me sick. Abusing innocent children in such a way is the most unforgivable crime one can commit.

So, after the former MAGA, but forever troll, Elon Musk posted about Trump being on Epstein's client list, the corporate news suddenly took notice of this otherwise already well-known relationship between the two wealthy degenerates.

Now, in a scramble to control the fallout from the media feeding frenzy, it looks like President Trump's personal lawyer, The fucking United States Dept. of Justice, is not-so-secretly coordinating with Epstein's former right-hand woman, Ghislaine Maxwell, in prison facing a twenty year sentence. Is Trump stupid & arrogant enough to offer some kind of pardon to Maxwell for her cooperation in exonerating Trump from the Epstein mess? I think we all know the unfortunate answer to that question.

Another stupid question is "Will this finally be the incident that brings down Donald J. Trump?" I've read conservative comments & forums where this attempted coverup of Trump's history with Epstein is finally cracking the wall of their denial keeping out the truth. However, I'm sure the good little bootlickers will get back in line as soon as they are given their marching orders from the right-wing propaganda machine. 

It's kind amazing that this asshole has been committing crime after crime, fraud after fraud, for decades & people still like him. Everyone with any sense already knew that he was a sexual predator and an immoral crook, but he just gets away with it all. People will probably be pissing on his grave before he sees any kind of justice for his misdeeds. I don't even believe in the Devil, but this guy must have some kind of pact going on with the forces of evil. He's definitely working on their behalf...

 

Trump Takes a Trip with the Mushroom Tip

So, I decided to convey the unthinkable... Donald Trump tripping on magic mushrooms. 

It seems more likely that the Moon would spontaneously turn into a giant mass of Swiss cheese before Trump would willingly partake in any psychedelic substance. However, I've predicted such completely ridiculous things as the Trump Bible™ & even the Trump Presidency™ itself, so there's a non-zero chance that I'm now spawning this into reality.

Anyway, let's take a hypothetical journey through Donnie's dome, as he experiences the mind-altering magic of the sacred shroom, & confronts all of his inner insanity...

A.I.-Driven Dystopia

 

 

Don't Ignore this Warning about AI

I've been watching the unbelievable advances in A.I. imagery & video, and it is completely beyond the human mind to grasp the implications of this emerging technology. 

As a parent, I have endless worries about my children's safety & what they will see as they travel through this temporal experience called Life. 

So, the video above really hit me when considering my kids, especially my daughter. It's based on the video If London Were Syria. 

It shows a girl growing up in a dystopian future, facing existential challenges to herself & to human society, as a whole. Institutions and social structures collapse as artificial intelligence takes control of computer systems running the world. The ending (where the woman, now with her own child, is being tracked by hunter/killer robots) is such a terrifyingly real possibility- now that the field of robotics has been weaponized globally with no real checks or regulations.

The mind reels at the horrifying possibilities when watching the latest robots or drone swarms. Then, the mind absolutely recoils when faced with the realization that these powerful advancements will be controlled by the most immoral & unscrupulous among us.

President-for-Life Elon Musk in 2088 - Supreme Chief Executive of the USX

 For the sake of my kids & all people, I just keep hoping that humanity's ability to solve problems outpaces our tendency to create them.

Fox News Cola

 

Fox News Cola -
The Official Drink of
“The Most Toxic Name in News”
by The Monkey Buddha

It’s pretty obvious at this point that most of America’s political problems come from the propaganda coming from partisan corporate news sources. Fox News, especially, is as toxic to the individual & collective mind as soft drinks are to the body. 

I try to expose myself to other political viewpoints, because I realize that confirmation bias is a real thing that I am also susceptible to. However, when I watch Fox News or visit the comment sections on their website, I feel like I'm in Bizarro World. Fox & right wing talk radio have absolutely poisoned the political discourse in this country, & I've been wanting to generate an image/meme that illustrates that grim reality.

God-Tier Narcissist

 

TRUMP: God-Tier Narcissist
by The Monkey Buddha

This past December, I posted 2024 Election (& American Democracy?) Post-Mortem and I mentioned how Trump "has become basically a God-tier malignant narcissist, demanding the attention of every human consciousness on the planet."

I started thinking it would be funny to portray Trump as a malevolent cosmic deity, so I made the above image. TRUMP has achieved his final form! As his absurdly inflated sense of self-importance transcends time & space, his chaos energy lights the world aflame.

It really is a phenomenon to behold - an ego so out of control that it envelopes the entire worldwide social collective. Trump is the pure manifestation of greed, a hungry ghost with the insatiable need for more... money, power, admiration, and worldly status. This is bad enough when it's the President of the United States we're talking about, but when you combine his bottomless narcissism with the fact that he's an idiotic ASSHOLE, it results in the absolute shit-show that is currently unfolding.

The craziest thing to me about Trump having any influence at all is that he's always been a total doofus. Especially now that he's a demented old man who just rambles on & bitches & whines, what's the appeal? He is just cluelessly doing the bidding of anti-democratic forces, and clearly has no clue what he is talking about whenever pressed for more than his usual, "Best ever" or "Nobody's seen anything like it" bullshit. Why do so many people act like this guy is respectable, when he is truly irredeemable?

His incomprehensible, god-like powers of personal aggrandizement admittedly leave me in awe... a dreadful, horrified awe. At the end of the day, though, he is still just a man who will pass into dust like the rest of us. However, it is difficult to look at this ultimate 'alpha male' & not be left in awe of his god-tier existence.

how does anything exist at all?

 

how does anything exist at all?

I posed this question to Stable Diffusion AI, & this is an image it came back with. 

It is a great metaphor- since that question is the fundamental mystery, and is ultimately unanswerable in any conventional sense.

It's pretty unsettling that AI can generate not just literal interpretations, but also "artistic" or "interpretive" creations.

Any attempt to figure out what comes next as a result of the developments in AI & other technology will also be met a with a big red X.  I'm old enough to know that the maxim is true, "Not only is the Universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we CAN think.” -Werner Heisenberg

MAGA Sheep

MAGA Sheep
by The Monkey Buddha

 It will never stop amazing me that some people actually idolize a classless, self-important buffoon like Donald Trump. Like, okay... you fell for the idea that he supports the "conservative agenda" & all that, but to think that he is some great or admirable person is just weird.

I have many family & friends who have been pro-Trump to various degrees, and they are smart, good people. However, I see hardcore Trump supporters (especially those rocking MAGA Hats & Trump flags) like people who send money to televangelists, in exchange for a "blessed" prayer napkin or some shit. Hate to break the news, but they've been swindled... by the most ridiculous fucking swindler to ever have swindled. It's laughably obvious that Trump is a pathological liar, con-man, and The King of Bullshit, but people eat it up for some reason. 

People consuming right-wing corporate propaganda don't get exposure to all the completely insane & stupid stuff he does. Even a fraction of it, though, should be enough to make you appalled. The fact that Christian conservatives, especially, don't see that Trump is the embodiment of the Anti-Christ archetype is hilarious & bewildering to me. 

So, the faithful flock continue to follow their faux-Golden Shepherd, as he fucks up one thing after another in American society and world affairs. You have to wonder exactly what kind of abominable act or despicable declaration it would take to alienate his most loyal supporters...

"donald trump as a golden statue with a shepherd's crook,
with a flock of sheep wearing red baseball caps surrounding him.
The background is glittering gold"
-generated by Stable Diffusion, prompt & curating by The Monkey Buddha

1st Spring Bloom

 

I'm so glad Spring is coming & nature is coming alive again!

I've been explaining to my 4 yr. old son the concept of the seasons, and trying to instill the wonder of the rhythms of nature.

The daffodils outside my house are the first flowers to bloom, and their distinctive yellow blossoms instantly brighten up the world.

Schumer is VERY Concerned

 

Schumer is VERY Concerned
by the Monkey Buddha

Although Donald Trump & other right-wing nutjobs are my usual target for political satire, I'm an equal opportunity critic. The reign of terror that is just beginning under Trump 2.0 is partly the fault of the Democratic establishment, that has not given a proper voice to the populist, progressive views shared by so many people in this nation.

Few represent the decrepit, corporatist, out-of-touch Democratic establishment better than Sen. Chuck Schumer of NY. However effective he may have been throughout his career, Schumer & the party leadership have failed to truly recognize and organize against the absolute assault on American society by President Musk & demented Uncle Donny. These old-guard Democrats are totally clueless on how to deal with the immediate, existential threat to democracy and the American institutions being rapidly executed by The Trump Republican Party™.

Granted, it is tremendously difficult to fight back against the fascist shitstorm that is upon us, especially when it being perpetrated by such insane stupid assholes... but, hey, that's what you fucking signed up for when you became a national political leader! 

If you want an example on how to address the current situation, look to Congresspeople like Chris Murphy, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jasmine Crockett, and of course, the people's champ Bernie Sanders, who is organizing "Fight the Oligarchy" events. In the alternate timeline where Bernie became our President, perhaps we wouldn't be swirling down a corporately-controlled regressive dystopia in this country. Back here in so-called "reality", at least he is trying to communicate with & mobilize the citizens. The power of the populace needs to be harnessed to push back against the systematic repression of social progress by the various monied interests controlling our government and economy.

Anyway, all that Sen. Schumer has been able to muster, in the face of these barbarians recklessly dismantling the federal government, is some disgruntled condemnations & cringe-inducing press conferences. Schumer's signature "sternly looking over the glasses on the tip of his nose" has become a meme in itself. So, I thought that I should properly memify "Concerned Schumer," as seen above.

Macro Photos of "Kyber" Crystals

 

Recently my son received a crystal-growing kit as a gift. It turned out to be a fun science experiment, and we pretended that they were the fictional "kyber crystals" that power a Jedi/Sith lightsaber in Star Wars.

The fractal nature of the crystals is very interesting, and using macro photography I was able to show the self-similar features at smaller scales.

 

I also found a cool little display case to keep on his desk, so he can look at them with his magnifying glass:

Trump’s Republican Congress, in Awe of Their Golden God-King

Trump’s Republican Congress,
in Awe of Their Golden God-King 
by The Monkey Buddha

However, a closer look reveals the disturbing reality…

Seeing the Republican cower before a buffoon like Trump has been an eye-opening lesson in craven fealty & shameless cowardice. Republicans at his joint session to Congress, clapping for ideas like annexing Greenland and cutting social services, are absolutely insane.

I generated the base image with Stable Diffusion, & stayed up late one night photoshopping all these creepy Trump-loving Congressmen's faces in, beholding Donald Trump's gold-plated, shit-stained glory.

 

Premature Self-Adulation

 

The absurdity continues to plunge into new, depraved depths... Trump passing out “Trump Was Right About Everything” hats in the Oval Office is the same kind of foolishness as Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” declaration, which became emblematic of his arrogance & overconfidence about the wars in the Middle East. 

I remember the early days of this blog in my younger years, during the Bush Administration. I was convinced that there couldn't possibly be a more incompetent, idiotic jackass for a President than Dubya, The Worst President Ever. Holy shit, was I naive!

Experience "Actual Reality"!

One of the reasons why the human race seems to be sliding deeper into a collective psychosis is because our individual minds have been hijacked by digital technology. Our devices and media have been designed to trigger all the addictive tendencies in our brains, and the result is an agitation on some level when this sensory input is removed. We feel the urge to open our phone back up, or go back to scrolling whatever feed had demanded our attention.

I am as big a fan of digital technology as anyone, but I also recognize the dangers & downfalls of its use. My remedy is to make sure that I devote time to putting the phone aside, and being present in whatever I am doing or experiencing at the moment. I've had the benefit of practicing mindfulness for many years through Zen meditation, yoga, and even my artwork. So, I am quite comfortable with just being, without the need for external distraction. Despite my desire to check my email or social media feeds, I'm able to put it aside and be sure to "stop & smell the roses". However, for people without that ability for a level of introspection or awareness, it can be so easy to just get continually sucked into the constant, never-ending stream of info & entertainment that's now at our fingertips.

This is why this video is so on point, reminding us that we have to utilize & appreciate our original sensory inputs, with the infinite universe of "Actual Reality" around us to experience:

The King of Bullshit

 

"The King of Bullshit"
by The Monkey Buddha

With President Donald Trump pushing the boundaries of his megalomania ever & ever farther, his social media accounts recently exclaimed "Long Live the King!" as he injects himself into New York's controversial 'congestion pricing' system.

I already generated the graphic above a couple weeks ago, but now it's even more appropriate in light of this recent news. The image was created from two renders by Stable Diffusion AI. I composited & retouched the resulting picture in Photoshop. The prompt was: trump sitting on a toilet throne with a poop emoji crown, surrounded by piles of gold and skulls

Trump truly is "The King of Bullshit"... and not just for the stream of unrepentant lies and utter toxicity that flows from his speech. He repulses me to my core, but I'm actually going to use this post to (sort-of) praise him for also exposing how much of our Reality™ is bullshit. 

Trump is truly a phenomenon, and without a doubt, the dominant global public figure of the beginning of the early 21st century. As I put it in my previous post: "He has become basically a God-tier malignant narcissist, demanding the attention of every human consciousness on the planet.".

The most significant thing that he has done, as The King of Bullshit, is to show that all of our public institutions and socio-political systems are ultimately bullshit. 

Our entire civilization is built on the most fragile foundation of gentleman's agreements & honor systems. What Trump has shown, is that unscrupulous people with no personal honor nor respect for these institutions can just tear everything apart. They can quickly dissolve these transient, imaginary creations that we call "society" & "government". As part of a relatively stable political framework for the last couple centuries, Americans have come to take our relatively well-functioning social order for granted. Trump has ripped open the curtain, and there's nothing behind our established institutions. It's all sunyata, emptiness...

Government is bullshit. It's made up of millions of actual civil servants, politicians, & military personnel, but it is really an abstract entity perpetuated by the systems & layers of bureaucracy that have been built up over decades. No matter how well things are run, it is all impermanent, & subject to being destroyed at any time. When you have a tyrannically-minded asshole like Trump & his fanatical sycophants ready to raze the established order, it has now been shown that the only thing holding everything together was the flimsy thread of "respect" that people continually hold for the government & it's principles. The checks & balances that the country's founders implemented simply do not exist if the parties do not exercise them. The Republican-majority Congress and the conservative Supreme Court have not asserted their authority in the governmental triad, and instead have let King Trump and his administration steamroll the entire system.

"The Law" & Its Enforcement are bullshit. Trump has proved this truth, time & time again. Law is another one of those things, hand-in-hand with government, that depends on people to respect & uphold it. If this is not enforced, then the whole thing is shown to be just a farce, a collective illusion that we agree to. The fact that Donald Trump escaped prosecution for the Jan 6th attempt to block the election certification, as well as his various fraudulent activities, AND became the fucking President of the United States shows that law is definitely not equally applied & can be completely subverted. He's shown that the courts are also bullshit, & they can either be politicized, corrupted, or stalled. As the Trump Administration churns out executive directives, organizations & states have begun to sue. People are looking to the courts to save us from the Trump/DOGE wrecking ball, but litigating against this administration's actions is like putting bandages on a decapitated head, the critical damage is done or unstoppable, & the country is fucked in the short term, for sure.

The Media is bullshit. Trump, being the King of Bullshit & master media manipulator, has shown how dishonest & sensationalized the news media has become. "Sane-washing" became a term during the 2024 election campaign to describe how the media & journalists simply don't call out Trump on his insane bullshit. It's agonizing to watch talking heads try to come terms with or spin the constant flood of belligerent stupidity & craziness. There are still fact-checkers in the news (much to the dismay of the MAGA faithful), but more people should just point out that Trump is a total ignoramus & often has no clue what the hell he's talking about. "The Weave", yeah sure,... it's called BULLSHIT.

Consensus Reality is bullshit. That's right- there is no such thing as an agreed reality, especially in the realm of politics. Political divisions have always been a major force in any society throughout history. However, the influence of social media and digital information have drastically affected perceptions of reality through misinformation, propaganda, and fictions. The devastating effectiveness lies with their distribution to the individual & collective consciousness, via the algorithms determining the content viewed based on an individual's psychological profile. We still have verifiable physical facts, but people may still not accept your measuring system or your descriptions even if they are supposed to be rooted in so-called objective reality. As Robert Anton Wilson described, we are living in our own "reality tunnels," and although there are certainly shared experiences among us, everyone is literally in their own world. When I go into the comments on Fox News articles, it is often like entering Bizarro World. The more MAGA the news source, the more disconnected from reality it seems to be. Trump himself, channeling 1984's Big Brother, has demanded that "what you're seeing... is not what's happening".

So here were are, Donald Trump, The King of Bullshit, is enshittifying the country, the world, & everything he touches, like the reverse King Midas. He is an narcissistic old fool sitting on an imagined throne, just as temporary as all the established institutions that he's exposing as a giant pile of bullshit.

 

President-for-Life Elon Musk in 2088 - Supreme Chief Executive of the USX

President-for-Life Elon Musk ~ 2088
Supreme Chief Executive of the USX

This idea came to me from the news stories about aspiring trillionaire Elon Musk's effective control of the government, & also Luigi Mangione being in prison for shooting a health insurance CEO. I could see elite power-mongers in the near future employing swarms of hunter-killer attack drones for flawless, continuous protection (at least until they are hacked or blasted with an EMP).

What really motivated me to get this post up was this video from today - of President Musk hijacking the Oval Office & absolutely blathering on about his dopey views on government, as Trump listens while hunched over The Resolute Desk in his weird orange clown makeup: 

The pure, glaring irony & hypocrisy of Elon Fucking Musk, an un-elected oligarch with billions of dollars in government contracts, complaining about bureaucrats making money off the government is truly breathtaking. He is the biggest goddamn welfare queen around, having siphoned untold amounts of wealth from the American taxpayer. What a cringe-fest... although Trump's annoyance with Elon's son is almost worth enduring the rest of the insane press conference. I have trouble wrangling my toddler son at my work, & I wouldn't dream of letting his crazy ass loose in the Oval Office! I like the theory that Elon's using his kid as a human shield (at least until he gets his drones).

I hate being right about stuff like this... but like all the other sane people in this country, I knew that Elon Musk was going to be Trump's "Shadow President". Elon definitely isn't staying in the shadows, though. He's right out there, openly orchestrating the hostile takeover of the U.S. government & economy. In fact, it has become crystal clear that the world's wealthiest man is the one pulling the strings, not Trump. 

Can you imagine if Pres. Biden had George Soros come into the Oval Office & describe how he's going to unilaterally reform the federal government??? The nuclear explosion coming from the collective heads of Fox News pundits would leave a smoking crater where their studios once stood. As usual, the hypocrisy is truly bottomless.

Daily Show:

Conservatives warning about George Soros 

but make the footage Elon Musk

Here's the terrifying reality: The ultimate goal of Musk & the other billionaire technocrats behind the scenes is actually NOT "cutting waste & corruption." That is just the cover story that voters would find agreeable, because no one can argue that the government shouldn't be more effective and efficient, right???

No, the true goal is the total decimation of the United States Government, along with its various agencies & services that benefit the public. Why, you ask? So the power & financial vacuums can be filled by private interests, who, as modern-day feudal lords, stand to make many billions from their new serfs, the American people. I watched the NYT interview with their so-called "prophet" Curtis Yarvin, & I realized these guys are self-important wannabe edge-lords who have no real understanding of humanity because their heads are so far up their own asses. 

Their plan for the dismantling of representative democracy is called "The Dark Enlightenment" & Elon is openly flaunting the ideology, with his black Trump hat & his proclamation of being "Dark Gothic MAGA".

 DARK GOTHIC MAGA: 

How Tech Billionaires Plan to Destroy America

We all have already been ground under the corporate boot, but the boot is about to get much heavier for the majority of the population. Elon talking about prices & inflation coming down by 2026 due to all this "saving" is pure, ketamine-fueled bullshit. I have two small kids and I'm freaking out about the destructive potential this administration & it's rogue organizations will have on our economy & society. The fact that anyone believes either of these hokey con-men for a second is a testament to the mass delusion affecting a heavily-propagandized portion of our population.

Anyway, back to my dystopian vision of the Musky future- originally I had the top image in my head of an very elderly Elon Musk in a hoverchair, surrounded by a detail of security drones. I plugged the idea into Stable Diffusion & it gave me an awesome starting image. However, the original face didn't look anything like him, so I Photoshopped the face & other details- like the black & gold U.S.X. flag. 

Here is a high-resolution version of the U.S.X. flag design... we might as well get used to using it!:

 

RIP iPhone 6s

I recently finally traded in my 8 year old iPhone 6s, for a current model 16. 

My 6s served me very well for all those years, & I was really trying to keep it going until the proverbial wheels fell off. It was only within the last 6 months that the battery life became very short (had to keep it plugged in a lot), & I began noticing a lag in performance. I had 128 GB of storage, the most you could get at the time, & I had just recently come close to maxing it out. My new phone has 512GB, so it should let me add 10's of thousands of more pics/video in the coming years. 

Eventually, A.I. will likely allow us to reconstruct (perhaps in VR) whole scenes or even chapters from our life based on our accumulated digital photo libraries. Anyway, I'll save my tech predictions for another post...

It's crazy how attached we've become to our technology, especially smartphones. I'll have a mini panic attack in the car if I think I left it at home. I have always felt that my computers & phone devices were extensions of my nervous system, tools to extend my consciousness & abilities. 

Sometimes, I'll look at the phone & think what a mystifying creation it is... It's almost like magic when you closely consider the complexities of it's engineering & functionality. We carry around this light screen that allows us to communicate & even share thoughts like a form of telepathy, create or appreciate art, capture moments in time, and navigate our reality, while also giving us access to the sum of all human knowledge right in our hand. It's unbelievable!

Now, with the addictive nature of gaming & social media, our devices have become "attention prisons" of endless scrolling and clicking. Our brain is completely hooked on the interaction with the screen. It's not all brain-numbing nonsense, but the craving for the interaction of the mind with the digital devices is a psychological imperative that is too strong for most people to resist.

I try to intentionally disconnect from my phone- to read a book, pay attention to the taste of my food, play with my kids, enjoy the rare moments of silence, a chance to talk to my wife without the little gremlins hounding us (also rare nowadays), or just be present in whatever I'm doing. I have a meditative mindset, and try to maintain a sense of conscious awareness in each moment. The phone is an almost irresistible temptation, but it's vitally important to take time & experience the sensorium of "real life". 

We also try to limit the kids' screen time, because we realize how addictive it is. I see kids glued to their phones, but then so are adults now. I want to help my kids to be able to be aware & mentally resilient enough to experience life directly, by disengaging from electronic media periodically.

So, as I continue on with newer & better hardware, our technology is evolving within our lifetimes, as biology as evolved through the millennia. It's truly an amazing time to be alive as so much change & novelty is taking place in our world. With how crazy things are, I just hope humanity can keep going & not destroy itself before we reach a more stable stage of species development. My phone delivers me all kinds of news that makes me nervous about our chances, but I have to stay optimistic, for the sake of my children the human race as a whole.