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Contemporary life has many odd and often infuriating aspects that leave one scratching one’s head, searching in vain for some shred of logic to explain them. A prime head-scratcher is the late-model automobile. Have you ever wondered why cars have become outrageously expensive, ugly, overly complex, packed with unnecessary electronic nonsense, and increasingly unrepairable?
Wonder no more. Everything is explained with great clarity on the fascinating and informative YouTube channel, “Uncle Tony’s Garage.” Here's a sample.
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"A person's wisdom lights up his face⸺and the boldness of his face is transformed."
— Ecclesiastes 8:1 The study and practice of physiognomy has been somewhat neglected in the contemporary West, drowned out by the endless din of the equality-mongers. But it never really goes away. Everyone practices the art; we all react to a person’s face. At the very least, we evaluate it on a gut level, as we do with body size and shape, voice, skin color, movement, gestures, etc. Physiognomy has been at the forefront of my thoughts lately due to the dramatic changes, over the last few years, in the facial characteristics of the population. This transformation includes a strong tendency toward dullness of expression, lack of symmetry, and downright ugliness. [I discussed these trends, from an evolutionary perspective, in my post The Darwinian Surprise (4/18/2025).] The severity of this deterioration was driven home to me when I stumbled across a certain video clip from Fox News. The topic in this case was irrelevant; what was important was the newscaster, a young man named Andy Mac. Take a look at this three-minute clip. It is clear immediately that something is awry with this specimen of homo sapiens. Physiognomy tells all: the shape of the face (and head), the placement of features, the bizarre haircut, the protruding ear, the odd movement of the mouth. Emanating from that mouth is an unpleasant and halting voice, with faulty cadence and pronunciation. He has difficulty reading the text of a tweet shown on the screen. The whole performance is no less awkward than a midget playing in the NBA. This man is a newscaster on a national network, for crying out loud. We are not talking about a bus driver, or an amateur from Podunk making a podcast in his living room, but rather the face of an important institution, seen by millions of people. Walter Cronkite he is not. Even a standard media apparatchik such as Jake Tapper is, by comparison, normal-looking and articulate. At any time and place, there is a distribution of facial attributes among the population. Not every man can resemble Sean Connery. But there has been a distinct shift toward the dysfunctional side of the curve. And, presumably, in the wake of that shift, more of those people are “promoted” into inappropriate roles. (But is the case of Andy Mac the result of something nefarious; part of the effort, in media and entertainment, to consistently portray white men as defective?) There is no question in my mind that the precipitous decline of our culture and in the overall level of intelligence is reflected in physiognomy. If you want proof, spend some time watching movies from the 1940s and 50s, or even a bit later. Look at the faces of the actors. You will see brightness, intelligence, curiosity, and humor. And this before they even speak. I can also attest that when I was growing up, in the 1960s and 70s, the percentage of people with this “look” was substantially greater than it is now. Today, it’s a different story. The aforementioned verse from Ecclesiastes could be rewritten for our era as: “A person’s idiocy darkens his face⸺and the dullness of his face is transformed.” Can this trend be reversed? "Although men flatter themselves over their extraordinary feats, these are not so often the result of a grand design, but rather of mere happenstance."
— La Rochefoucauld The resounding success of Net-Zero energy policies in Spain prompted me to imagine how splendid it would be if the entire world pursued these same initiatives. I played it out in my mind, and developed a possible scenario for attainment of the ultimate goal: a truly 100% Net-Zero world.
[Keep in mind that the following story is pure speculative fiction.] In this version of the future, Net-Zero energy policies are pushed to the limit worldwide. The result, over time, is a massive die-off. Despite the numerous woke progressives among the deceased, the news is spun positively in the New York Times, which emphasizes the crucial benefit of drastically reduced carbon emissions. Eventually, the Times can no longer engage in the act of emphasizing; it ceases to exist when its last staff member, the Science and Technology editor, freezes to death in her Chelsea loft. Two young humans, Madison and Liam, are chosen by Fate to survive the apocalypse. These two beneficiaries of white privilege became acquainted with each other while camping, in neighboring tents, at a Hamas peaceful protest at Columbia University. Through a series of fortuitous circumstances and events, they escape the utter ruin of civilization, and embark upon a grueling odyssey that terminates in being marooned on a desert island. Madison and Liam are the last of their species, as Net-Zero has been implemented down to the last human producers of carbon. Life on the desert island is simple and carefree, with fish and tropical fruit available in abundance, and warm weather year-round. The two survivors agree to mark a boundary down the middle of the island, with an ironclad promise to enter the other’s territory only with permission. This ensures the inviolability of safe spaces. Madison and Liam both, but especially the young lady, spend hours each day attempting to revive their iPhones, which sadly have no hope of ever again being functional. Madison complains that her social-media friends never respond to texts or posts. Two years go by with no change in living conditions, and no contact with the outside world (which effectively has ceased to exist). One day, while Liam is surveying his domain from atop an outcrop of rocks, he sees Madison, a stone’s throw distant, bathing nude in a natural pool under a waterfall. She normally does this after nightfall, so as to remain invisible, but just this once forgets her own protocol. The young man is shaken to the depths of his soul. Feelings of intense desire are quickly supplanted by shame, as he struggles with his thoughtcrime. There is no question, he reckons, that this remnant of toxic masculinity must be purged from his system. Over the course of the next few days, however, desire makes a comeback, and returns to the forefront of Liam’s consciousness. What to do? He cannot cross the territorial boundary; that would be considered by Madison to be an unforgivable transgression. Liam hatches a cunning plan: he will convince his female counterpart, by means of reasoning and subtle persuasion, to engage in physical contact with him. The next morning, he walks to the spot along the border where they usually go to converse with each other. “Good morning, Madison. Nice day, isn’t it?” Madison displays her typical frown, but nods grudgingly. Liam pays no attention to this negativity, instead focusing on her physique, which is appealing to him in the extreme. “What did you want to talk to me about?” Liam takes a step toward the object of his attraction but then halts abruptly upon his realization that the sacrosanct boundary lies between them. He gathers his courage and clears his throat. “You know, Madison, I was thinking, like, you know, kinda….well maybe we could take a walk along the beach on my territory, it’s really pretty over there.” Madison frowns again, and then stretches her slim body upward with a big yawn. “No thanks. I’m okay with my own beach. Anything else?” Liam, anticipating this response, switches to his backup strategy. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking….we might be the last two people on the planet, just you and me. Kinda sad, that everyone else had to die, but in a way it’s totally awesome, right?” “They had to die, to save the planet. But what’s so awesome about us being alive? We’re still using up resources and contributing to climate change.” “True, true,” says Liam, again suppressing his desire. “But we could be like Adam and Eve. You know, starting the whole human race all over again.” “What?!” shrieks the young woman. “Adam and Eve? That story the Nazis cooked up to justify the patriarchy?” She looks at him with scorn, shaking her head in disbelief. “You never said anything like that at Columbia. What are you, some kind of Republican?” She storms away in a huff, and is soon out of view. That evening, Madison captures one of the poisonous spiders that inhabit a cave on her side of the island, and places it in a bamboo box that she had made. In the middle of the night, she crosses the boundary into Liam’s territory, sneaks up to his hut, approaches his bed, and releases the spider. The creature fulfills his mission and bites the hapless victim. Liam goes into convulsions, and expires a few seconds later. Madison uses her last remaining lipstick to draw a swastika on his chest, along with the words, “literally Hitler.” Life is good again for the young lady. She can now bathe in her pool at any time of day or night, and no longer has to worry about anyone stepping over the boundary onto her territory. More importantly, the world has been rid of one more MAGA fanatic. But regret soon takes hold; Madison feels terrible guilt from her complicity in the survival of a white male Republican fascist, who consumed precious resources and delayed the moment of complete Net-Zero. In fact, she reasons, her own survival is not much better. Okay, she’s not a Trump supporter, but still, it’s one more mouth for eating and a set of lungs for breathing, postponing the glorious day of Gaia’s deliverance. Overcome with remorse, Madison feeds herself to the sharks, hoping that her sacrifice will help humanity atone for its sins against the planet. Net-Zero is finally achieved. The Babylon Bee has done it again, producing a humorous skit on the trials and tribulations of being a real Nazi in today's America. Just a few minutes long; worth the watch.
In my post of 5/2/2025, I lamented the fact that President Trump and his associates have failed to attain legitimacy, to fully assert their authority over the executive functions of the presidency. The discussion centered on domestic issues. Recently, the problem has expanded to encompass the international arena as well.
It seemed that right out of the gate, the new Administration would extract America from one of its greatest foreign policy disasters: the Ukraine mess. The closing of the money spigot, various declarations from the President and senior officials, the blowup with Zelensky in the White House, renewed contact with President Putin, and other moves all gave hope that the adults newly in charge of the United States were finally going to end this travesty. But just as we have seen on the domestic front, the Leftist Establishment was not about to quietly accept the demise of one of its most vital projects. It is up to its neck in Ukraine, a linchpin of the ecosystem of fraud and grift. The threat to NGO funding is enough by itself to instill panic in the ranks. The forever war on Russia also is crucial ideologically, to provide a focal point in the battle against “right-wing extremism”; that is, anyone who refuses to acquiesce in the dismantling of civilization. The Russians are considered heretics, and as such must be punished and brought to heel; among their many crimes are the abandonment of Communism, the revitalization of native religion and culture, and the humiliation and suppression of the “Pussy Riot” woke hooligans. (“I stand with Ukraine” is a declaration—alongside advocacy for poison injections, illegal aliens, and child genital mutilation—that one will support the Left through thick and thin, with no conceivable limit. In other words, there is no act so outrageous, so absurd, and so downright evil that one would recoil in disgust. Remember, comrade, you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.) It’s déjà vu all over again as Trump 2.0 caves to the Left. The “mineral deal” is a pathetic smokescreen to cover the continuation of the Progressive jihad against the Muscovites. The deal was announced simultaneously with the proposed federal budget for FY2026, which includes a noticeable increase in military spending. No doubt many of the countless new billions of dollars sloshing around will find their way to the Ukraine war. (Not to mention the severe blow to the finances of the bankrupt USA.) Hasn’t Trump learned that you can’t placate the Left? They are far too power-hungry and bloodthirsty. Millions of dead and wounded Slavs is like catnip for them; they are emboldened, looking for an even more dramatic collectivist crusade. And as the Ukraine quagmire drags on and on, guess who will be blamed? In six months, the talking heads on Face the Nation will be saying something like this: “Under President Biden, we were so close to victory, Russia was collapsing…but then Trump stepped in, always equivocating, never really committed, so we find ourselves embroiled in this endless war…” We all know the playbook. For President Trump to assert the executive power of the presidency, he must revert to the policy taking shape in the days following the inauguration. How to proceed? Announce the immediate end of the Ukraine war. Pull every American out of the area. Turn off the money. End the sanctions on Russia, and resume full, normal relations. Let the Europeans take over this sordid affair. Monsieur Macron, who apparently fancies himself as a transsexual version of Napoleon, can personally lead all three battalions of EU troops as they wade ashore on the beaches of Crimea. Onward, brave women and men! We’ll take Stalingrad! Le jour de gloire est arrivé! To the gates of Moscow! In the fever dreams of the European elite, the evil Putin will be brought in chains to Brussels, where the feminized dictators of the great woke axis can curse in multiple languages and throw rotten eggs at the ultimate symbol of “toxic masculinity.” Would the jihad crumble without American participation? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps Starmer & Co. are just crazy enough to push Russia into a full-scale war. Then Vlad can pull out all the stops and slay the totalitarian monster once and for all. The way things are going in London, Paris, and Berlin, it might just play out in this fashion. A bit of delicious irony: Let us recall the immediate post-World War II decades, with all the protests by the European Left against the American military presence, particularly the nuclear arsenal. Now the Left demands that America throw its full military force into the killing fields of Europe so that Woke Progressivism can be expanded into the former Soviet bloc. You simply can’t make this stuff up. Please Mr. Trump, assert your authority, and end the madness, as you said you would. Then keep going. Dismantle the global empire, one of many archaic institutions and arrangements that are sucking the life force out of the country. Stop being the “world’s policeman,” and bring our boys home. Cut the military budget, eliminate the waste, and re-orient the armed forces to protection of the homeland. If you must engage in imperial adventures, focus on the Western hemisphere. Last but not least, begin the long-overdue prosecutions of the criminals responsible for turning Ukraine into a money laundromat for individuals, corporations, and NGOs. Oh but I forgot, all of this could be nullified by a judge. Never mind. [The post below was first published in 2007 on the original AWOL Civilization blog. It should be mentioned that Scruton passed away in 2020.]
It is unusual in our day to find a philosophical work that is profound, erudite, and oblivious to current intellectual fashion. I have just finished reading such a work: An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Culture, by Roger Scruton. First published in 1998, it is a thoughtful attempt to explain the demise of Western culture. Scruton takes on all the familiar antagonists: deconstructionism, contemporary art, the youth culture, and much more. They scatter in disarray before his mighty pen. For example, discussing the role of artists in contemporary society: "Art is no longer a reflection on human life but a mechanism for excluding it." As for the more vulgar varieties of pop music: ”We witness a reversal of the old order of performance. Instead of the performer being the means to present the music, which exists independently in the tradition of song, the music has become the means to present the performer...it has a tendency to lose all musical character. For music, properly constructed, has a life of its own, and is always more interesting than the person who performs it.” I particularly enjoyed his debunking of deconstructionism, the best such effort I have seen. Scruton traces the development of this exaltation of nothingness, showing how it is intimately connected with the culture of repudiation, that phony pose of our self-styled intellectuals who claim to be in a permanent state of rebellion against the authorities. He shows how deconstruction became a quasi-theological underpinning of the culture of repudiation, enabling people to believe that they are in the opposition, even as they are being swept up by the dominant wave: “The subversive intention in no way forbids deconstruction from becoming an orthodoxy, the pillar of a new establishment, and the badge of conformity that the literary apparatchik must now wear. But in this it is no different from other subversive doctrines: Marxism, for example, Leninism, and Maoism. Just as pop is rapidly becoming the official culture of the post-modern State, so is the culture of repudiation becoming the official culture of the post-modern university.” Scruton delves into a thorough analysis of the Enlightenment and its aftermath, tracing the main lines of thought through the 19th century to Modernism, Post-Modernism, and finally the morbid state of collapse in which we now find ourselves. He presents several interesting hypotheses, including the notion that art, in its post-Enlightenment sense, stepped in to fill the void left by the collapse of religion as a guiding force in the West. Explore these fascinating insights when you read the book in its entirety. The Left has been ruling America for so long that everyone pretty much takes it for granted. Their grip on the country’s institutions is so ingrained and so extensive that it is almost impossible to escape its clutches. Trump 1.0 couldn’t pry loose even one finger. Trump 2.0 is undoubtedly an improvement, but the stranglehold remains largely in place.
When a particular ideology and set of behavioral patterns are entrenched over the course of multiple generations, it becomes the norm, the default setting. No one alive today was around when America was a constitutional republic. During the first few decades of the twentieth century (some would argue earlier), the original republic was replaced with a cantankerous democracy that at least purported to operate under the rule of law, and with an overall sense that adults were in charge. This was, however, an increasingly flimsy arrangement that drew its last breath around the 1990s. The younger generation today cannot even conceive of what that society looked like; their entire lives have been lived in a steadily ratcheting tyranny based on Progressive ideology, as normal to them as the sun rising in the east. One reason why Trump 2.0 has been unable to break the mold is that it cannot attain legitimacy. Admittedly, any challenge to the rule of the Deep State would lack this quality from the get-go. If you presume to govern in place of whom everyone—consciously or unconsciously—assumes to be the default rulers, then ipso facto you are an upstart. The current Administration has not been able to transcend this perception. The reason is simple: If one fails to knock the Left decisively off its pedestal, and to crush their inevitable attempts at usurpation of power, legitimacy can never be attained. Right out of the gate, it looked as though Trump 2.0 would comfortably settle into the White House, and finally bring sanity to America. A prime example: the closing of the border, and the dramatic ICE raids around the country. But it was never a complete and thorough assertion of power. Witness the arrogant boasting by several governors that they are defying the federal government, continuing to give shelter to illegals, thus aiding and abetting the commission of felony crimes. Equally threatening is the scandalous episode of the rogue judges. The fact that this power grab continues unabated, and that the authority of these traitors to seize control of the executive functions of the president is acknowledged by those in government, is a huge blow to the Trump Administration’s legitimacy, prestige, and ability to govern. It has emboldened the Left, and demoralized the supporters of reform. Thus we have the visits to El Salvador, a direct outcome of this weakness. Another blow is the failure to prosecute anyone involved in the crimes of the Biden regime: the stolen election, the poison-jab mandates, the January 6th witch hunt, Mueller, the Russiagate hoax, etc. Remember all that? The perpetrators are walking around free, awaiting the return to their desks. If the new Administration cannot avenge that orgy of criminality, why should anyone take them seriously? Legitimacy is also lost by kowtowing to the propaganda organs of the Deep State. One self-inflicted wound to the presidency is the spectacle of the never-ending press conference. This ritual drags the President down to the level of the omnipresent Leftist hacks (the “media”) who represent the Deep State. Whatever Trump says or does, they are right there to state their opinion. It doesn’t matter that he responds well to their infantile blather; they have the opportunity, almost every day, to spit in the President’s face. And the spitting is rebroadcast and regurgitated endlessly by the propaganda organs. Once again, they are emboldened. Trump and his associates believe that they are overwhelming the gaggle of Leftist scribes (and their supporters at home) with stories of “winning,” of great victories for America. But the little woke slimebags couldn’t care less whether America is coming out ahead; all they care about is the next opportunity to get Trump. The whole spectacle resembles Louis XVI being dragged out to the guillotine, every single day all over again. Their goal is to destroy him by any means necessary, and restore The Party to its rightful place as the legitimate and permanent ruler of the United States. They call this “saving our democracy.” (On the topic of relations between the federal government and the Deep State’s propaganda organs, see my Feb. 24 post Banish the Apparatchiks.) What is needed is distance, not proximity. When the sovereign holds court, the only ones present should be the decision makers themselves, along with guests whose input is needed. Governing should be conducted behind closed doors. After policy is determined, an announcement can be made through a variety of channels, an easy task in the Age of the Internet. If necessary, a lower-level functionary, such as the press secretary, can deliver the news in person. From time to time, the President can make a speech, or conduct a fireside chat. The propaganda organs should never be present. If you are going to stage a revolution, then you better go all the way, and fully replace and discredit the tyrannical regime and its lackeys. Especially when that regime has the unquestioned support of half the country’s population, and of the lion’s share of the chattering classes. “It is now impossible, and has been impossible for over fifty years, for anyone to make a building which is beautiful or even agreeable. Whatever may be the reason for it, this is simply an historical fact; like the impossibility of travelling abroad nowadays without a passport, or the fact that no one could make a television set in the twelfth century. No one likes to look at a modern building, let alone live or work in it, and hardly anyone even pretends nowadays that they do like to.”
—David Stove, circa 1985 The Trump Administration has taken steps to block federal funding to Ivy League universities; for example, the freeze on $2 billion worth of payments to Harvard. One could desire more vigorous action, but this is a good start. Combined with a few other power plays, such as deportation of foreign agitators, the withholding of funds at the very least puts a dent in the chutzpah of these “prestigious” institutions of higher “learning,” which in reality function as ideological incubators for the colossal Leftist ecosystem of fraud and subversion. The message is clear: America no longer wants to bankroll its own demise.
Speaking of bankrolling our own demise, that $2 billion taxpayer subsidy of Harvard’s shenanigans is small potatoes compared with the student loan mess, now sitting at around $1.7 trillion in outstanding debt. Imagine how many lectures on “white racism” were funded with that pile of cash. The scandalous transformation of American universities into brainwashing factories is matched by the junior-varsity team of Progressive indoctrination: the nation’s public schools, which purport to engage in primary and secondary “education.” Total spending on this monstrosity is running about $1 trillion annually. Yes, we spend a trillion dollars per year to churn out masses of illiterate, sickly, ignorant, confused morons who don’t know which sex they are. Couldn’t this prodigious feat be achieved for, say, half a trillion? The skool racket is funded in large part by the immense swindle known as property tax. On my last property tax statement, the municipal authorities informed me that 25 percent of my payment was destined for the public schools. I should be happy; this figure is actually lower than the national average, which is about 35 percent. Property tax is an outrage on multiple levels, beyond the forced funding of the K-12 Leftist indoctrination camps. It is an affront to private property. It is taxation of unrealized gains. It is disruptive to the building of stable communities. It is bankrupting numerous homeowners, and making home ownership increasingly unaffordable. Not to mention the fraud involved in the valuation process. If this weren’t enough, additional money is shoveled into the babysitting grift via federal subsidies, local and state programs of all sorts, and the issuance of municipal bonds. And still they howl for more. We are truly digging our own grave. There is so much institutionalized fraud in this country, it is difficult to name a front-runner. But the property tax/public school scam is surely one of the most pernicious and devious ways the citizenry is fleeced by the government. |
Dystopian literatureWelcome to the blog! While you're here, check out the six dystopian novels by Gary Wolf. His latest is The Cubist Supremacy. 
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