Neil Hawkes

Be Ruthless

Thermodynamics

Entropy is working against me
And entropy wants to slow me down
Oh, I'll never know what makes this flow
With all the ways that it could go
Find new ways to throw it all away

Oh, twice as much ain't twice as good
And can't sustain like one half could
Entropy will send me to my knees

Cloud Fascism

A cloud, a mist
Souls unmissed
Subtle rot
Bud and canker
Donald Trump
The World Wide Wanker

Unfortunately real wealth is very mobile, so taxing it is hard. But the ultra-wealthy use their wealth to own assets - which are not mobile. So we should tax the assets. If every asset was taxed at 2% a year, the situation would be transformed.

The third way involves many a step of faith, but I believe this chasm must be crossed.

Suppose you must cross a chasm. There is a bridge across it. Public opinion, or the words of experts may lead you to believe the bridge is safe, or not. If you step onto the bridge, in the conviction that the chasm must be crossed, that is a step of faith. Faith involves choice and action.

This, it should be said, is a matter of faith rather than belief. Fascists, in particular the subset of religious fascists, derive power from conflating faith and belief, but this is a great lie.

There is a third way, the way of the social democrat and the writers of the Constitution of the USA. They hold that a constitution can hold the powerful to the same law that others must answer to, and grant the powerless some influence in the framing of that law.

Natural Order

Fascists and anarchists both hold that the natural order is that the powerful will use the law to control and constrain the powerless. They differ in their chosen reaction. Fascists choose to worship power, while anarchists seek to murder it.

The cunning potentate does well to appoint inept deputies.

The pun is complete. I am required for further ceremonies. My felicitations to your elephants.

But rejoice, for I am returned to my post, as it were. The bean stew was merely soporific. I slept for many hours and am now fully refreshed. The Chief Priest is overjoyed, particularly since my deputy proved unable to rise to the occasion and kept dropping his trophies.

My old friend the Chief Priest hurried to refresh me with a nourishing bean stew. I drew the wrong conclusion. Everything that has a beginning, has an end. I resolved to be Stoic.

From his Serene Radiance, the Rajamarah of Punjmeet. Greetings.

Oh, disaster! I fainted from the exertions of my ceremonial duties and was carried out to recover on a couch. The shame! Terrible things happen on couches, I am told.

We cannot agree and this will come to a head. It may be that my next message will be relayed to you by different means, who can say? Tata for now.

The pun is complete. I am required for further ceremonies. My felicitations to your elephants.

My Chief Secretary, the estimable Mr. Tata, is causing friction. He demands to be known as my Public Relations Manager. My ceremonial duties already involve constant public relations, of the most vigorous sort. I do not require a PR Manager.

From his Serene Radiance, the Rajamarah of Punjmeet. Greetings.

I speak to you now from the portico of the Temples of the Sun. I pause to consider the coincidences between our lives in Punjmeet and yours in America and pass them on to you, via my excellent secretaries.

The pun is complete. I am required for further ceremonies. My felicitations to your elephants.

Tarrife drives them out and they immediately re-enter. This constant imposition and removal of Tarrife’s charges is causing chaos. I should intervene, but after a day in congress I am too tired.

My elephant, the Great Orange Oaf, has a companion animal, Nah Varo. The name means utter moron in the local dialect. Their mahout Tarrife can do nothing with them. They stampede into the grounds where all their food is grown.
They trample the earth and uproot everything.

From his Serene Radiance, the Rajamarah of Punjmeet. Greetings.

I speak to you now from the portico of the Temples of the Sun. I pause to consider the coincidences between our lives in Punjmeet and yours in America and pass them on to you, via my excellent secretaries.

It was easily arranged. Prestige has its uses. I know many people at the T@mp@x organisation. I was able to pull some strings.

The pun is complete. I am required for further ceremonies. My felicitations to your elephants.

We are not so modern here, but do not think us backward. Our women are entirely liberated and period poverty is unknown here. All period products are available freely from the Temples of the Sun. Can America make this claim?

From his Serene Radiance, the Rajamarah of Punjmeet. Greetings.

I speak to you now from the portico of the Temples of the Sun. I take a moment to consider the coincidences between our lives in Punjmeet and yours in America and pass them on to you, via my excellent secretaries.

The pun is complete. I am required for further ceremonies. My felicitations to your elephants.

My ceremonial work relies upon the proper use of preventatives, but they are ritually impure. I may not handle them myself. So you see, your President is completely in the hands of Mr. Poutine.

It may seem that, as an absolute monarch, my power is untrammeled, but it is not so. There is always a power behind the throne. I speak of our Eminence Grease, Mr Poutine, the keeper of the royal lubricants.

From his Serene Radiance, the Rajamarah of Punjmeet. Greetings.

I speak to you now from the portico of the Temples of the Sun. I take a moment to consider the coincidences between our lives in Punjmeet and yours in America and pass them on to you, via my excellent secretaries.

The pun is complete. I am required for further ceremonies. My felicitations to your elephants.

If I flag in my responsibility, the Chief Priest goes away and cooks up a very special small black bean. All unawares, I eat the bean and shortly thereafter, a new Rajamarah is appointed. I may be old, but let no-one say your President is a has bean.

My ceremonial duties as Rajamarah are arduous, but not odious. A lifelong responsibility. Within the temple grounds I am required to service all comers. If you will pardon the expression, during my Presidency I am expected to f@ck the whole country.