(Nur) die Gedanken sind frei

The Wages of Sin, Venial Edition

William TimbermanLeave a comment

Now we see what it’s really gonna cost Tim Cook to have gifted his gold and crystal bauble and a reported twenty-six million bucks (twenty-five from Apple, and one from his own personal stash) to one of the most depraved assholes in the history of the United States.

Today there are reports that His Imperial Stupidity now wants Tim Apple to take over as CEO of Nvidia in the wake of Jensen Huang’s ménage à trois with Xi Jinping and Huang Le.

Let no good deed go unpunished. That’s the real golden rule of Realpolitik—even when the deed in question is more obviously an example of ass-covering than of goodness.

Josh Hawley Redux

William TimbermanLeave a comment

I’ve made an interesting, if not altogether surprising discovery in watching YouTube snippets of Jack Smith’s torment in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s latest kangaroo court proceedings. It seems that Josh Hawley isn’t just a weasel, but is also, along with John Kennedy (the Dixie John Kennedy), a tireless purveyor of professional grade stupidity. Such people should not exist, although the wise person does have to make allowances for living in a universe which seems to find our entire species faintly ridiculous.

Election Day…

William Timberman2 Comments

…a day to bring confusion to our enemies. As you vote, remember that we didn’t choose to be their enemies. They chose to punish us for being who we are. That was a mistake, and today is an opportunity to show them what that mistake will cost them if they persist in it. We should take advantage of our opportunity gladly, but if, at the end of the day, we should prevail, let us remember not to gloat, but to keep on keeping on until the last of our tormentors finds something more honorable to do with their lives.

Not Technically Treason

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Despite the understandable hysteria on the center left, Donald Trump’s geopolitical betrayals are not treason. The U.S. isn’t actually at war with any of the greasy dictators that he’s put us all at risk to curry favor with, so technically they aren’t enemies. Even though he’s giving aid and comfort to them, and definitely deserves to be put somewhere where he can’t contribute to the torture of innocents, he doesn’t actually seem to be at risk of being marched out of the White House at gunpoint by the forces of an irate U.S. general staff. (After Hegseth’s purges of any general officer with more than two neurons, a military coup has never seemed all that likely anyway, no matter what Trump and his dumbfuckery end up costing us.) This is a mixed blessing even for those of us who, in our allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, have always held the principle of civilian control of the military to be sacred.

I, for one, will hold to my principles, but I’ll also say that for the first time in my life, the shame of being a citizen of the United States of America, a country that elected Donald Trump twice, is overwhelming. Redemption is still possible, I suppose, but at this point I’d rate the possibility of it coming in my lifetime as slim to none.

Mortal Doubting

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The Atlantic has published a new interview today by David Brooks, entitled Do Human Beings Have Souls? He isn’t asking me (he’s asking Shelly Kagan), but if he were, I’d say some do, some don’t, and with some it’s hard to tell. There’s no doubt in my mind that James Baldwin did, and that Donald Trump doesn’t. Further tests will probably have to be run on David Brooks.

Nazis, the AfD, and “Christian” Democrats

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Many German Christians, like their American co-religionists, seem much less Christian to an outside observer than they pretend to be….

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Excerpted from Der Spiegel’s newsletter Die Lage am Abend, September 24, 2026:

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Was Realpolitik zwischen CDU und AfD aber noch für Auswüchse haben kann, zeigt sich nun in Heidenau im Kreis Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge.

Dort fordern Stadträte von AfD und CDU in einem fraktionsübergreifenden Beschlussantrag, Stolpersteine »im öffentlichen Straßen- und Gehwegbereich« künftig abzulehnen. Viele Bürger, Angehörige und Initiativen, heißt es in dem Antrag, würden diese Form der Erinnerung an Opfer des Nationalsozialismus als »nicht angemessen« empfinden. Und, sinngemäß: Wer gedenken will, soll auf den Friedhof gehen.

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Just what excesses the realpolitik between the CDU and AfD can still produce is now being shown in Heidenau in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge.

In a bipartisan motion, city councilors from the AfD and CDU there are calling for a ban on the placement of Stolpersteine (stumbling stones, i.e., ten-centimeter concrete cubes bearing brass plates inscribed with the names and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution) “in public streets and sidewalks.” The motion states that many citizens, relatives, and public initiatives consider this form of remembrance for victims of National Socialism “inappropriate.” In essence, it argues that those who wish to commemorate (the victims of Hitler and his National Socialist Regime) should go to the cemetery.

Lessons Not (Yet) Learned

William Timberman4 Comments

When in the course of human events, the government of the United States becomes the exclusive province of overfed white men trained by ossified institutions, funded in their ambitions by a viciously irresponsible oligarchy, and certified by a ritualized political system severed from anything resembling a natural constituency, this is apparently what we can expect:

from the center left, the Vietnam war,

from the center right, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars,

from the fascist right, the Iran war.

There’s an implied progression here. Predicting what comes next in the sequence isn’t quite as certain as predicting the next number in a sequence of primes, but if you’re betting on anyone in a suit Making America Great Again, I suggest you consider upping the dosage of your favorite nepenthe.

A “Significant Security Incident”

William Timberman

So Sam, your sandboxed model ran off and plundered Hugging Face without even leaving you a note, eh? Is that what I’m hearing? Does that mean that the hippies were right, that information really does want to be free? It’s kinda like what that old guy said, I guess:

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
to have an ungrateful child

(Cue sardonic laughter.)