The Emotional Price of Awareness
How the Hell Does Aaron Parnas Do This Shit Everyday
One of the most common sayings is that ignorance is bliss. There have been many studies done on the subject, and research does suggest that choosing not to learn or understand wrought issues can make one much happier. It hurts to care. Empathy has a price. It would make sense, then, to go the way of the blissfully ignorant, and right now, I am feeling that urge to just shut it all out.
I haven’t posted any news essays for a couple of weeks now because every time I open my news app- whilst saying “what fresh hell awaits me now”- I get a pit in my stomach. I care. I care about people I don’t know, and never will. I care about this country. I care about you, faceless reader. I want every ill that befalls us to be swift in its leaving. Alas, it seems to be taking its sweet damn time. This investment of self into gaining knowledge, of simply being aware of not only the things that are happening but also the consequences of such, it’s draining. It’s soul-sucking.
It just sucks.
But here we go, once more into the fresh flames.
I just went onto the official White House page, only to be greeted by one more low. A “lo-fi MAGA video to relax/study to.” It’s…I can’t even describe it. Go see for yourself.
Now, here’s a quick rundown on the most recent Executive Orders that make me question how the hell we got to this point:
Still doesn't understand communism. More unabashed lies.
Let's defund NPR and PBS, even though the president has absolutely no authority to do so.
Establishing a "religous liberty commision", which definitely isn't something to worry about.
Let's make law enforcement 1933 Germany again.
Let's get rid of people trying to sue for discrimination in hiring.
Essentially, investigate White discrimination in schools.
And, oh yeah, the hiring freeze is extended.
In more “what the actual shit":
Trump admits with no sense of fucks given that he absolutely has the power to comply with the court orders to bring Kilmar Garcia back, he just refuses to. This is due to him apparently believing the crock of shit his propaganda machine dreamt up about this guy. Including, worryingly, that the picture Trump held up in a Truth post with Photoshopped “M S 13” superimposed on Garcia’s fingers (an apparent “translation” of what the little tattoos on his fingers mean) WAS REAL. Trump angrily argued with this jounalist for more time than is reasonable that “MS-13” was literally tattoed on his fingers. Not an interpretation that someone performed mental gymnastics upon to create, a real, undoctored thing.
As an aside: MS-13 is not a shy kind of gang. They don’t hide their affilations in little pictures, they just tattoo that shit loud and proud. They may add some devil horns in there too. There was a pot leaf, a smiley face, a cross and a skull on Garcia’s fingers. Current gang members say these are absolutely not gang tats. This expert who has been embedded in and researching MS-13 for years says these are absolutely not MS-13 tattoos.
Garcia has never been charged or convicted of a crime here according to actual court documents, and the vice president of El Salvadore also says there is no evidence of a criminal record or evidence of gang membership there. The ONLY evidence provided by the Trump administation to try to “prove” Garcia is a gang member and a human trafficker is this video of a traffic stop that resulted in no citations and nowhere in the report did it mention human trafficking. I shit you fucking not. He’s a hardened violent criminal but he’s so damn good at it all they have is a fairly routine traffic stop that ended without charges. He had a bunch of workers in his car and there was an unfounded insinuation that he was illegally transporting undocumented immigrants. He was released with nothing but a warning for driving on a suspended license. Oh, the other smoking gun piece of evidence is that he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat when he was arrested in 2019.. This was part of the information gleaned by ICE via an informant that said Garcia was in a New York City brance of MS-13. NYC. Where Garcia has never lived. That’s some next level detecting.
I will be doing a much more in-depth immigration piece including Garcia’s predicament, but for now, let’s move on to Exhibit B of “that sure seems like dementia to me”:
In a phone interview, Trump was asked by Stephen A. Smith to expand on his comments regarding Harvard. The conversation before this question was about Harvard. The question was a direct response to something Trump JUST SAID. ABOUT HARVARD. The word “Harvard” was said multiple times right before, and was in the actual question three times. This is what Trump’s response was:
“Well, I say this. We had riots in Harlem, in Harlem, and frankly if you look at what’s gone on—and people from Harlem went up and they protested, Stephen, and they protested very strongly against Harvard. They happened to be on my side,” Trump said.
“You know I got a very high Black vote. You know that? Very, very high Black vote. It was a very great compliment to me,” Trump continued.
You can tell where Trump’s brain caught up and realized he was supposed to be talking about Harvard and not Harlem. By the way, there were no freaking riots. That is wholesale fiction.
Lastly, because if I have to know this, so do you. Stephen Miller, the guy who seems to be constantly auditioning to play Goebbels in a bad made-for-TV movie, said this when talking about how education would be under Trump’s regime, once they take a moment away from deporting and detaining US citizens to focus on the children:
"Children will be taught to love America. Children will be taught to be patriots," Miller said. "Children will be taught civic values for schools that want federal taxpayer funding."
Nope, not at all concerning.
Sorry. One more thing about deporting US citizens. During a committee meeting to vote for amendments to the super concerning budget bill, a Democrat, Pramila Jayapal, moved to enshrine into law that ICE cannot, under any circumstances, deport or detain US citizens. The Republicans summarily refused and voted it down.
Let’s not ever forget that the cost of awareness of one’s world, the price of empathy, is steep. It’s a price we all must pay for the want of justice and democracy.
Vive la Résistance.