Errol Morris

The Putinization of America. (I learned the term from Garry Kasparov.) Unhinged aggression. Disregard for human life. Imperial aspirations. Need I say more?

“Our country is winning so much...that we really don’t know what to do about it.” I have a suggestion. How about impeachment?

It’s alarming how similar Trump’s policies are to Putin’s policies. Are we really supposed to side with the aggressor in any settlement in Ukraine? No, no, no.

After a host of unpleasant, ill informed obituaries, here is a good appraisal of Missile, a Wiseman film. Thank you, Alex Wellerstein. I have written that I have never felt further from God than in a Wiseman film. The film ends on the word “God,” and it is certainly true here.

"Launching missiles is your job." The sublime banality of Frederick Wiseman's "Missile" (1988)

open.substack.com/pub/doomsday...

Without irony life is not worth living. Without irony we are all slaves to language; with irony we are its masters.

Trump speaks endlessly of peace. It’s a form of self-deception mixed with self-congratulation. But… Actions speak louder than words. His meeting with Putin in Alaska served to prolong and exacerbate Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

The media now covers criminals and idiots pretending that they’re not criminals and idiots.

My friend and America’s greatest filmmaker, Fred Wiseman, died. No one has penetrated further into the fabric of reality. I will miss him.

I used to think that all historical analogies were wrong. But it’s hard not to compare the Russian invasion of Crimea with the concessions made to Hitler over Austria and Czechoslovakia in the Munich Agreement.

Yes, you can have no truth without language, but that doesn’t mean that language is a vehicle for truth.

Language was invented to allow people to lie more effectively. It was not invented as a vehicle for truth. Rather for evasion and misrepresentation. And yes, for lying and prevarication. Just listen to and read what people say and write.

Can it be? Trump rescinds federal regulations on climate change. Not since the Vatican condemned Galileo has science been so thoroughly rebuked. The Vatican just wanted an earth-centric universe. Trump wants a Trump centric universe.

LAWLESS AMERICA. What happens to a country where crime goes unpunished? Ask Putin. Ask Trump.

When is he going to change the name of America to Trumplandia?

More from the NYT. The need to coddle Trump. Is this the meaning of democracy?

Kleist’s story has a myriad of interpretations. (That’s one reason why I like it.) Bit it reminds me that truth is never simply handed over through procedure… And the mysterious machinations of the Universe guarantee nothing.

But if God doesn’t reveal the truth, who does? Is it really up to us?

When in doubt read Kleist. "God, what obligation lies upon Him to reveal and pronounce the truth…?"

We might not have a democracy, but at least we have a ballroom.

Hope is for the credulous.

THE NEW AMERICA. Pardon the guilty, and murder the innocent.

FIRST. Deploy the National Guard in cities where it is unneeded and uncalled for. SECOND. Foment violence while claiming the National Guard is there to prevent violence. THIRD. When violent acts (inevitably) occur, blame immigrants as a group. RINSE AND REPEAT.

HOW LONG WILL WE HAVE TO SUFFER? FOREVER? More bad headlines in the NYT. “Some Supporters Fear That Trump Won't
Keep Vows.” Really?! Someone needs to be given an over-credulous award. “For a president who returned to office promising to make life more affordable…it has been a significant departure…"

A NEW STRATEGY. Create a crisis and then seem to “solve” it. Abrogate Obama’s Iran deal (the JCPOA),
implement settlements in the West Bank, move the American embassy to Jerusalem. Then wait and see what happens...

A brief respite in the newspapers today. Should I let my guard down? I don’t think so.

POE v. MELVILLE, The spirit of perverseness v. natural depravity/ Why not both? (The Black Cat v. Billy Budd)

WHEN IN DOUBT READ MELVILLE. Though the man’s even temper…would seem to intimate a mind peculiarly subject to the law of reason...he would seem to riot in complete exemption from that law, having little to do with reason...than to employ it as an ambidexter implement for effecting the irrational.

It’s a toss up. I can’t believe what’s happening, and I don’t want to believe what’s happening. Ah, that admixture of denial and incredulity.

I like alliteration but can this really be her name? Heather Honey, an election denier, has been put in charge of “election integrity.” When “we” elected Trump, what did we think was going to happen? Well… The denial of truth, the suspension of law, among other things…