Day of the Lemur, 44th of Spring, 526 M.E. (Castor): Yesterday, it was revealed that the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is at least partially funded by a foreign government working closely with Vladimir Putin. In a speech, Péter Magyar, the man elected to replace Viktor Orbán as President of Hungary, revealed that Orbán had been using Hungarian government funds to finance CPAC. Orbán had clearly been working for the benefit of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, and just days before the election, news broke that last October, Orbán told Putin, “In any matter where I can be of assistance, I am at your service.”

CPAC had celebrated Orbán’s efforts to destroy the liberal democracy of Europe in order to replace it with what he called “illiberal" or “Christian" democracy. He replaced the multiculturalism at the heart of democracy with Christian culture, stopped the immigration that he believed undermined Hungarian culture, and rejected “adaptable family models” in favor of “the Christian family model.”

Sound familiar? CPAC has been spouting Putin's propaganda for some 25 years now. 

But you know what? I don't even care. The world's climate is crumbling and an insane, megalomaniacal narcissist is fumbling around in the Middle East, the most volatile area on Earth, in the most reckless way possible. Worsening heat waves are supercharging hurricanes, and Typhoon Sinlaku has intensified in the last 24 hours to a Category 5 storm with 180-mph winds. Gray whales are dying in San Francisco Bay at an alarming rate, and Greenland's nearshore fisheries are collapsing. At this point, I'm pretty sure my body's already heavily contaminated from microplastics, PFAS, and pesticides. Scarcity of water will become the next global crisis, and already is in many parts of the world, and will further exacerbate global migration, inflaming the already present intolerance and economic inequality. So if 75 million morons think the world would be a better place if all families resembled a 1950's television sitcom (e.g., Father Knows Best), that's the least of my concerns.

It's hard to feel compassion or loving kindness for a nation that willfully gets on board a clown car heading off a cliff while loudly proclaiming that their god is telling them to floor the gas pedal.

 

Day of the Boar, 43rd of Spring, 526 M.E. (Betelgeuse): Climate models indicate a strong likelihood (around 62%) that El Niño conditions will develop this year, with a significant chance of intensifying into a rare “super” El Niño event. Such events, defined by sea surface temperature anomalies exceeding ~2°C in the central and eastern Pacific, have historically driven severe climate disruptions.

A strong El Niño can shift atmospheric circulation, intensifying extreme weather and causing severe drought and heat across Australia, and parts of Africa, India, and the Amazon. Extreme rainfall and  increased flood risk may occur here in the southern U.S. and in parts of Asia.

Already, a dangerous super typhoon has formed in the Pacific and is expected to make landfall on Tuesday in the Northern Mariana Islands, bringing destructive winds, widespread heavy rain, and flooding. The tropical typhoon was producing sustained winds of 173 mph today. While it is expected to weaken slightly over the next few days, the storm will probably cross the islands as a category 4 or 5 typhoon.

Although no hurricanes made landfall in the U.S. last year, the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season was distinguished by three Category 5 hurricanes - the second-highest total since 2005. And that was without El Niño conditions.

I have a feeling this is going to be a very interesting summer.

 

Into Another, 42nd Day of Spring, 526 M.E. (Aldebaran): The Stable Genius' approval ratings dropped below 40% this week as gas prices climbed to a national average of more than $4 a gallon. A Pew Research poll conducted in mid-March found that 60 percent of Americans disapproved of his handling of Iran, including 30 percent of Republicans. His approval rating on the economy has also reached a new low of 31 percent, a drop of eight percentage points in only two months, according to a CNN poll from late March.   

The cracks in the Empire's wall are slowly widening. Today, the far-right Hungarian president Victor Orban was defeated in his re-election bid. John Brennan, the former head of the CIA, has joined the calls for removing the Stable Genius from office under the 25th amendment, saying it "was written with him in mind." Last month, some eight million people, or 2.4% of the U.S. population, participated in the No Kings protests. The Supreme Court appears skeptical of the Stable Genius' argument against citizenship for persons born on American soil. MAGA podcasters and influencers are leaving the fold over the Stable Genius' erratic and nonsensical policies.

We have a long, long, long way to go to heal this nation, and none of these news bits in themselves are the cure, but we can't build a new society until the rotten facade of the fascist regime in place now is obliterated.

Blows against the Empire.

 

The Dull Gleam Monody, 41st Day of Spring, 526 M.E. (Helios): In an interview with the NY Times' Ezra Klein, American journalist, political commentator, and author Fareed Zakaria offered his evaluation of the Stable Genius' unauthorized and immoral war with Iran.

He points out that when the war began, Iran's nuclear facilities had already been “completely and totally obliterated,” at least according to the Stable Genius. While one should never takes the SG at his word, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission also confirmed that Iran’s nuclear program has been destroyed and couldn't be restarted as long as they didn’t get access to nuclear materials, which were being denied to them. That was the situation at the start of the war. 

After the U.S and Israel's bombing was over, Iran had lost its military and its navy, but by the end of the hostilities, it had gained is a far more effective weapon than nuclear arms: it had realized and shown the world that it can destroy the global economy by simply blocking the Strait of Hormuz. Iran now seems poised to not only hold much of the world hostage with its strategic hold on the Strait, but it’s also going to monetize that stranglehold, gaining $70 to $90 billion of revenue every year, about twice as much as it made selling oil. Those payments will be felt by Americans at the gas pump, and also weakens the American petrodollar because payments for passage through the Strait are being made in crypto or in yuan, the Chinese currency.

Iran has also strengthened Putin because Russian is now making something on the order of $4 billion to $5 billion more per month because of the increased price of oil, which will probably stay elevated for a while.

In addition, it has also nearly destroyed the Western alliance. A frustrated and desperate Stable Genius, when he realized he wasn’t getting his way, decided to blame his failures on America’s European allies, as if had they somehow joined in, it would have made any difference. As Zakaria points out, when you have a bad strategy with unclear and shifting goals, it doesn’t really matter how many people you have cheering you on from the sidelines.

The benefits to the U.S. of the war are close to zero. Zakaria sees the war as merely a willful, reckless destruction of lives, of massive amounts of American military hardware, and of America’s global reputation.

It was a stupid, lousy strategy that has ended up with the United States much weaker than it was before, he concludes.

 

The Spirals of Elsewhere, 40th Day of Spring, 526 M.E. (Electra): To put an end to greed, Zen Master Dogen advised, we have to depart from the egocentric self. In order to depart from the egocentric self, we need to realize the impermanence of all things. 

To depart from the egocentric self is to abandon ego-attachment, the assumption that there is a separate self that exists in the body or mind, and thinking it to be substantial and eternal. This is a fundamental delusion, Dogen advised. 

To practice egolessness and see the impermanence of all existence is to live without the greedy desires that seek fame and profit.

Greed is an extreme form of desire, and the Buddha's primary teaching is that suffering arises from our desires. Hence, it makes sense that greed - extreme desire - will give rise to extreme suffering. Putting an end to greed by recognizing the impermanence of all things, including the egocentric self, obviously puts an end to suffering.  

When I look at the Stable Genius, I see a man consumed with greed, with  an undying lust for more money, more gold, more power, more attention. I see a man suffering and suffering greatly, and his pain is eating his bloated body and destroying his mind, causing him to fly into fits of rage and anger with vows of retribution and revenge. He's starting wars, both cultural and social, as well as actual wars, invasions of other countries. 

The "man who has everything" and can't seem to get enough of anything. 

I'd feel sorry for him and I might on some level, but his greed, hate, and delusion are destroying this country in which I live and the whole world at large. I don't see the Stable Genius departing from egocentric self or recognizing the impermanence of all things in his lifetime, so the happiest outcome for him is probably for his lifetime to end. All that suffering, for him and the world, will be over. An end to his existence is the kindest thing I can wish upon the Stable Genius.      

 

Seething Center, 39th Day of Spring, 526 M.E. (Deneb): "If I can guide my thoughts to recognize there is no essence of me,  that my self is the unfolding of perceptions and that they're constantly changing," British neuroscientist Anil Seth told Michael Pollan, "I think it reduces the existential pain of illness, at least a little bit." 

When we are suffering, Pollan concludes, the impermanence of the self can be a comfort. 

Zen Master Dogen would not have disagreed. The primary point, he states in Zuimonki, is to separate from your ego. To do so, he taught, you have to consider impermanence. "Our life is like a dream," he says. "Time passes swiftly. Our dew-like life easily disappears." Since time waits for no one, we should try to do good for others as long as we are alive and not worry about our own selves or our reputation.   

I'm three-quarters of the way through Pollan's A World Arises. If this book doesn't end with him becoming a full-fledged Buddhist, he's missed the truth right in front of his eyes.

 

The Long Dim Under, 38th Day of Spring, 526 M.E. (Castor): I didn't die last night in a global thermonuclear war and I bet you didn't either. We can be grateful for that much at least.

Shortly after completing yesterday's post, I saw the news online, Stable Genius Announces Two-Week Ceasefire in Iran. Of course he did. TACO. It was all just more bluster and bravado.

But the bluster and bravado were literally terroristic threats to "wipe out" an entire civilization, "never to return." "Bomb them back to the stone ages." Irresponsible and reckless rhetoric from the so-called leader of the so-called free world, the man with the nuclear launch codes at his bruised and short fingertips.

Is the crisis over? No. Israel's already resumed bombing Lebanon, because that's what they do, and Iran is still throttling traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. But most significantly, a mentally incompetent, narcissistic despot is still in the Oval Office, and the world won't be able to even start working our way back toward anything even resembling normalcy until he's, well, no longer breathing. That's not a threat. It's just an observation that peace is apparently incompatible  with his existence.

The same regime still controls Iran, except now they're both more hardline, and, oh, we just killed their father, brothers and sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews. They still have enriched uranium, but now more motivation that ever to develop a bomb. The flow of some 20% of the world's oil is still under their control. And we're alienated our allies, gave Russia a financial lifeline, and emboldened China to seize territory they see fit to take.

And don't even get me started on climate change, the gutting of environmental safeguards, economic inequality, and making racism acceptable again.

I'm not happy withthis world and things are only going to get worse.            

 

The Quiet Turf, 37th Day of Spring, 526 M.E. (Betelgeuse): Not to sound overdramatic, but I am traumatized by recent news. A madman, a person truly unwell mentally, has his finger on the nuclear button and is loudly proclaiming his intention to use it. At 8:00 pm tonight.

I've seen this movie. It doesn't end well. 

I'm a boomer who literally had to do the duck-and-cover drills beneath my desk to defend against a nuclear attack. I remember neighbors building fallout shelters in their backyards, and my teachers made sure that we children knew where the school's shelter was and how to get there. 

I was eight years old during the Cuban missile crisis although I didn't really understand the situation at the time. But as my young mind tried to grasp the adult world of current affairs and the grim tones used during the evening news, it began to dawn on me that a thermonuclear war was the most likely demise not only of myself, but the whole rest of the world as well. 

I watched and was terrified by movies like Seven Days in May, Fail Safe, and Dr. Strangelove. Post-nuclear dystopias were a cliche in my comic books and monster movies. And then there were those weird gore-porn agitprop movies we were forced to watch at school for some reason that graphically imagined what life would be like after a nuclear attack. 

Basically, I realized at an early age that I would most likely either be instantly vaporized in a nuclear blast (if I were lucky), or painfully burn to death if I was a little further from ground zero at the time of impact, or (worst of all) survive the attack only to succumb to radiation sickness from the fallout, or starvation, or post-apocalyptic violence. 

All this before I was even 12. I basically lived with that low-level existential dread all through high school and college, and as the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. lurched from one crisis to the next, world politics resembled that last scene in Reservoir Dogs where everyone's pointing guns at every one else, barking warnings and orders until one gun finally fires and then everyone starts shooting.

Then, a miracle apparently happened. In 1989, the Berlin Wall came down, the U.S.S.R., our existential enemy, dissolved, and suddenly, it seemed like maybe global nuclear annihilation wasn't so inevitable after all. 

Oh, we were so naive beck in the 1990s. Yes, the U.S.S.R. was gone, but it didn't take long for new threats to emerge and new wars started, and while politics might have been less tense than at the height of the Cold War, the nuclear option wasn't off the table.

Now, the Stable Genius, an increasingly unhinged and erratic person, is vowing that he will completely destroy the nation of Iran unless they concede to all of his demands by 8:00 pm today, something they seem unwilling and unlikely to do. He hasn't used the word "nuclear," but his threats of wiping out a "whole civilization" with force "unlike anything ever seen before" more than hints at nuclear weaponry. 

He wanted to use nukes on North Korea during his first term, but he had guardrails around him back then to dissuade him. Hell, he even talked about nuking a hurricane back then. The guardrails are not only gone now, but his black-out drunk Secretary of Defense, a former Fox & Friends weekend host, clearly sees the Iranian conflict in Biblical terms, and I'm sure he's leafing through the Book of Revelations looking for clues to convince himself that he's fulfilling some sort of prophesy. 

The Stable Genius is clearly unwell mentally, he's surrounded himself with crackpots, sycophants, and maniacs, and he has the authority to call for the nuclear annihilation of anther country if it so pleases him.

If he does "go nuclear," I doubt it will immediately trigger a global apocalypse a la World War III, with Russia, the U.S., and China all firing ICBMs at each other. But it would still be catastrophic, politically, strategically, and ecologically. Once the seal is broken and nukes, even so-called "tactical nuclear weapons," are used in combat, no nation could be sure any longer that the U.S. or any other nation won't go nuclear again, and will act accordingly in the interest of their own self preservation. Russia will use a nuke in Ukraine, China in Taiwan, and North Korea any random place just to show they're capable, too.  

In many ways, that would be worse that the WWIII scenario. Remember the three ways I imagined I would die - either instantly vaporized at ground zero, painfully burn to death, or (worst of all) radiation sickness, starvation, or mass violence? The Stable Genius is putting us on course for option three.

Even if nothing happens, we still have nearly three more years of this madness to look forward too. If he chooses not to nuke Iran, will he restrain himself during the next crisis? Will he go nuclear over Greenland and attack Denmark? Or NATO? Are Chicago and San Francisco exempt from his anger?

A malignant narcissist with a messianic complex, the attention span of a toddler, and no self-control has the launch codes, and all we can do is watch the news and hope for the least bad outcome. 

I always knew this would eventually happen.

 

Day of the Tower, 36th of Spring, 526 M.E. (Aldebaran): They're so stupid, they're so unbelievably fucking stupid, they believe they can make the American people forget that the undeclared war in Iran was not legally authorized by Congress, has little popular support, and is costing $1B a day, by spinning some sort of Saving Private Ryan story about the rescue of two downed airmen, without mentioning they they're the ones who put the airmen in harm's way in the first place.

The black-out drunk Secretary of Defense even made a religious analogy, pointing out the airmen were shot down on Good Friday, were missing in action of Saturday, and then resurrected (under his direction) on Easter Sunday.

I'm glad the airmen were rescued, not only because of human lives but also because the situation would have become immeasurably worse if they had been captured. The story is not about the skillful rescue of a couple brave pilots, it's about international war crimes, it's about the lawless and reckless actions of a senile, demented president, it's about the colossal waste of money and staggering carbon footprint of an obscene and illegal war.

The real story is what led to the surprise and unannounced decision to initiate the bombing. Distraction from the most recent and disturbingly lurid revelations in the Epstein files? Ask yourself who profits the most by this action. Israel and Saudi Arabia were Iran's biggest rivals in the region, and Bibi Netanyahu has long had the Stable Genius wrapped around his finger, and the U.S.'s chief negotiator prior to the bombing, Jared Kushner, has received a $2B business "loan" from the Saudis. And Russia is probably the biggest beneficiary of the war, as the sanctions against their oil exports have been lifted to partially offset the restricted flow through the Persian Gulf, renewing Russia's ability to finance their reprehensible war in Ukraine. One would almost suspect that the Stable Genius authorized the bombing to please Bibi, MBS, and Putin. Distraction from the Epstein files was just a side benefit.      

But let's not talk about that. Remember Saving Private Ryan?

 

Cryptic Tailgate of the Mourners, 35th Day of Spring, 526 M.E. (Helios):  Easter. The son has died and now the father can be born. 

All the right-wing pundits and agitators who keep screaming about an alleged "War on Christmas" don't seem to imagine a war on Easter, although from what I see, Easter is much less celebrated than Christmas, even though it seems like it's the more foundational Christian holiday. Virgin-birth mythology aside, the extraordinary thing about Jesus wasn't his birth but his supposed resurrection, but they seem willing to let observation of the latter slide while getting quite defensive if you're not as enthusiastic about the former as they deem appropriate. The cynic in me wonders if the reason isn't theological but monetary - it's harder to capitalize on Easter than Christmas.

As a child, Christmas was the greatest holiday of the year. My parents generously lavished their children with gifts and it was our major annual acquisition event. Christmas was when we got the toys to last us for the next year and clothes for the rest of the winter and hopefully the spring. Our material status rose or fell based on our haul on Christmas morning.  

Easter, on the other hand, had candy, which was cool, but it also had hard-boiled eggs which were kind of gross, and it also meant dressing up in uncomfortable clothes and sitting through a particularly crowded and stuffy church service. It also meant a blood-sugar crash sometime later in the day, and a realization that jelly beans and Peeps were our least favorite candies. Confection-wise, Easter couldn't hold a candle to Halloween.

Christmas smelled like evergreens and pies. Easter smelled like the vinegar used to dye the eggs. Also, pictures at Sears with the Easter Bunny were far more terrifying than pictures with Santa. 

Christmas was joyous and celebratory. Easter was something to be endured.

 

The Remnants of Bela, 34th Day of Spring, 526 M.E. (Electra): We're in the in-between season here in Atlanta. In between heating and air conditioning. It's warm enough to not need the heat, but cool enough not to crank up the AC. Warm enough to peel the comforter and heavy blanket off the bed, too cool to sleep under just a sheet.

Without the heat or AC running, the air in the house in still and calm. When I light a stick of incense during meditation, the smoke trails straight up toward the ceiling in a solid gray column. No dispersion, no chaotic eddies of curling smoke. A single straight column, like smoke from a campfire in the deep forest in a Maxfield Parrish painting. It's a beautiful sight, although looking at it after meditating, the calm mind is more inclined than usual to find beauty in the mundane and simple. 

As I slowly walk around the room between sitting periods, my motion disturbs the air and the smoke sinuously bends and snakes. I can even see it respond as I slowly approach and the mass of my body bulldozes the air in front of me. When I'm very close, the smoke is as chaotic and eddified as when the heat or AC is running. I don't see the column as I walk away as it's now behind me, but when I turn a corner, I notice it's returning to the straight gray column of before.

There's no metaphor here, no lesson to be learned. It is what it is. The weather's pleasantly mild, smoke rises, your humble narrator observes and finds joy in the simple physics. 

The end.

 

Day of Sargasso, 33rd of Spring, 526 M.E. (Deneb): We're in another inscrutable and senseless war for some reason of another, the economy's gone to shit, no one believes there will be free and fair elections this November, the climate's gone haywire, and, not unrelated, the most incompetent, irresponsible, and inappropriate people imaginable are running the government, but whitey's back on the moon.