Robot Jazz

  It can be an enlightening experience to live as a citizen who has stood on multiple sides of the political spectrum. I was once a staunch conservative, a reliable Republican voter. But then Trump commandeered the party, transforming it into a cesspool of right-wing extremism. Like a political refugee, I was forced to flee. Now I find myself among the largest bloc of American voters: the unaffiliated independents. One of the more curious side effects of a political hegira is the chance to view public figures from multiple vantage points. Take Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. As a conservative, I regarded him as a slick operator—more adept at self-serving backroom deals than public service, and fond of press conferences that delivered a flood of words with barely a drop of reason. Now, as an independent, I’ve reassessed my opinion and have concluded that...Chuck Schumer is a slick operator—more adept at self-serving backroom deals than public service, and still fond of press c...

  There’s been a popular mantra about Trump and his toxic MAGA agenda for some time now: The cruelty is the point. It refers to how many—perhaps all—of Trump’s policies aren’t engineered for results, but for pain. Pain directed at those he and his ilk deem undesirable: non-MAGA voters, the vulnerable, the inconvenient. The recent political and legal wrangling over SNAP benefits is a perfect example. When the SNAP fund began running dry due to the government shutdown, Vice President JD Vance—whom Trump once called “JP Mandell”—claimed the administration would like to release emergency funds, but couldn’t: “We can’t just tap emergency funds for SNAP without congressional authorization. That’s not how budgeting works—even in a shutdown.” — JD Vance, interview with Fox Business, October 30, 2025 Needless to say, this was an absurd idea because the SNAP emergency fund was created precisely to mitigate situations such as the current government shutdown. Without SNAP benefits, millions o...

  As the holidays creep closer, I am gradually slipping into one of my sci-fi moods. I don't know why, but there is something about the cold days, dark nights, and light-up decor that makes me feel like I am living in a space station on the "blackest sea", as one sci-fi author put it, whose name is long forgotten to me. As such, I begin to binge on science fiction like a drunk during happy hour. Recently, I have found myself exploring the world of audiobooks. I have found them to be wonderful diversions as I engage in my seasonal ritual of scouring the house from top to bottom in my unquenchable desire to rid my interior life of all traces of the most obnoxious season of all, summer. Audible  recently introduced me to an excellent science fiction compendium entitled  The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Vol. 1, 1929 - 1964.  As the name suggests, this has proven to be an excellent collection of some of the greatest tales to come out of the rightly titled "golden age of ...

  It’s a cliché, yes, but one that endures because it’s true: a picture is worth a thousand words. And this one? Behold the literal, physical destruction being wrought upon the White House, not by foreign invaders as in the War of 1812, but by the man who swore to protect it, President Donald Trump: There’s another cliché that asks, “How do you know when a politician is lying?” The punchline: “His mouth is moving.” With Donald Trump, it’s less a joke than a governing principle.  Do you recall that when Trump announced the plans for his ballroom abomination, he pledged not to harm the existing structure of the White House? “It won’t interfere with the current building. It’ll be near it but not touching it.  And pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.”  That was back in July. Now, after the damage has been wrought, he declares , with a monarch's contemptuous sneer, that: “In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing st...

  Once upon a time, the American right wing used to hold historical texts in high regard. Why, I recall countless rants by conservative talk radio hosts who were keeping lists of the number of times President Obama ran afoul of the Federalist Papers, the Constitution, or even Black's common law. Nowadays, not so much. Suddenly, the right has lost interest in the foundations of the American republic and is instead content to continue to implement the GOP convention platform of 2020, which read:  “RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda.” In other words, the putative conservative right represents only what Donald Trump says it represents, with its home, the once 'Grand Old Party', being reduced to a rubber-stamp plaything for Trump. But while the party of Lincoln and Reagan may have misplaced its historical texts, the American people have not. That enduring civic knowledge manifested itself ju...

  👄👄👄This is your regular reminder that we are 259 days into Donald Trump's Epstein cover-up. 👄👄👄👄 The last two weeks in my neck of the sprawl have been rather warm. This is not unusual. I recall one October a decade or so ago when it got so warm that the kids were passing out in their Halloween costumes! While it hasn't been quite that bad this October, it has definitely felt like we are suffering through Autumn's summer. As such, a weird sort of malaise has taken hold. For me, those cool, crisp days of fall bring with them a burst of energy, a need to fully and enthusiastically embrace the joys of indoor living, something I consider encompasses everything from scrubbing the house from top to bottom after a summer of neglect, to more frequently planting my butt in front of my electronic dream machines to imbibe the pleasures of a wired age. And while I have made some progress in those areas since Autumn has officially begun, it has felt like an uphill battle as the ...