Agree about Trump. He cares about nothing but himself. And most of his sycophantic cronies such as Hegseth, Bondi, etc, aren't exactly good at long term thinking. They're opportunistic lampreys.
But I do think that there are a handful in his inner circle (Miller?) who aspire to genuine fascism.

Sadly history is full of famous but terrible people.
Schrodinger was a pedophile.
Feynman a womanizer that preyed on young coeds.
John Searle, Saul Kripke with questionable behavior towards women.
Of course Woody Allen. Bill Cosby.
Not always easy to separate the work from the man.

Pedal boards from the latest Spinal Tap movie

Good analogy!

Beautiful bird. Don't have them here in Michigan.

Plenty of red-bellied and downy woodpeckers on my feed cylinders though!

Friends don't let friends do panpsychism....

We've learned so many things about Trump that would destroy any other politician. But his followers always give him a pass.

One wonders then what could possibly be in the Epstein files that so terrifies him. Must be unspeakably bad. What could be so bad that it would turn his followers against him?

A city that infamously pelted Santa with snowballs.

That cheered when an opposing player suffered a career-ending injury.

And then there are the batteries of course.
"Batteries hold a sacred place in the history of Philly fans." - Tweet by Duracell, 2018

"These aren't the Epstein files you're looking for."
-- Obi-wan Kenobi

Question: Why is this particular motion being assigned to a different judge than the one hearing the case?

You've probably read this. It would seem to contradict the idea that it is transformational. (At least for now.)

mlq.ai/media/quarte...

They should ask Trump to hold the meeting in Portland, so he can see for himself.

Just returned home from a week in Chicago with my kids.
Beautiful city. Felt quite safe.

Scary that our POTUS, with access to the most advanced and sophisticated intelligence at his disposal, chooses instead to get his intel from watching TV!

Just as the Right labels anything they dislike as "communism", "socialism", or "Marxism".
They throw these out to scare people who have no understanding of their true meaning.

Less than a dozen channels back then, but always something to watch.

Now 100s of channels, can stream almost anything. Yet seems like there’s nothing to watch.

Back then - 11pm - Are You Being Served? on PBS. Nice end to the day.
Now can watch any episode on demand. But just not the same.

Excellent essay. Thanks for sharing.