Yowl and Owl

Well, that was the week that was, as succinctly digested here by Think Progress. This shambolic crew reminds me of the amateur ideological warriors who gutted Iraq after Bush II’s military victory and political disaster. Those were the bozos who set up the rise of Daesh/ISL. Meanwhile, back in 2017: Septuagenarian tantrums, White House chaos, non-stop lying, and a flurry of executive orders of dubious legality, but all with a clear theme: a multi-pronged attack on democracy.

What Trump and Co., including a Republican Party that seems to think it can control this narcissistic monster, are striving for is a kleptocracy. An illiberal democracy. This is a kind of authoritarian regime with a façade of democratic characteristics, like elections that are neither free nor fair. Political scientists call these “hybrid regimes,” on the wrong side of the spectrum between pure authoritarianism and liberal democracies. Think Russia, Poland, Venezuela, North Carolina.

Is it all darkness? Naomi Klein thinks not, and offers some optimism. The wind playing with those big feather tuffs that make up the “horns” of a Great Horned Owl. Oh, my.