Today we received our new, “equitable” budgets. We sustained downright ridiculous cuts. The money for office supplies was cut down to a pittance. Student wages were mowed down exactly at the time when hourly wage went up in accordance with state law. Travel support is eliminated. Academic memberships went down to zero. Contractual services cut by 60%.

We were told not to call these “budget cuts.” No, these are not cuts at all, we are told. These are “equitable reallocations.” You can’t be against them because it means you are against equity. What are you, far-right or something to be against equity?

Hiring freezes have a new name, too. They are called “strategic position realignments.”

Imagine saying this about literally any other country. "No one has a monopoly on what it means to be Swedish"—that would sound absurd.

They'll call you hysterical for saying this, but it's the truth: The core premise of leftism is that America doesn't have a right to exist. pic.twitter.com/OUqUgSf6DM

— America 2100 (@America_2100) August 21, 2024

What she says is extremely similar to Putin’s stated rationale for invading Ukraine. For both Michelle Obama and Putin, a nation-state is a limiting fiction that shouldn’t exist. Many people fail to see the extraordinary similarities between the narratives advanced by Putin and lefty US elites but these similarities are evident.

They simply don’t understand why nations are necessary. The concept of a country is not part of their cognitive framework. They don’t operate with it. Both Michelle Obama and Putin are completely sincere. They are fabulously rich and they want the fluid existence of very rich people where nothing limits their movement. They have no idea why the rest of us don’t get it.

CNN's @VanJones68: "I didn‘t realize I had been in a spiritual desert until [the Obamas] created that oasis on that stage." pic.twitter.com/QmEMooPKUl

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 21, 2024

He also said, “The Obamas renewed the magic of the movement…It was a sacred task.”

Spiritual oasis, magic, sacred task – investing politicians with a religious significance is a terrible idea. There is no magic at a political convention. Politicians are fallible human beings. We shouldn’t deify them. The whole idea behind the creation of America is that politicians are not anointed by God. They come and go, and we keep them in check by refusing to grant them any legitimacy beyond what we specifically hire them to do.

Personality cults are not a good idea. Treating politics as a transcendent, religious activity is wrong.

Do you know the expression “on steroids”?

Right now I’m actually on steroids. I’m taking them for my severe sulfa allergy.

And oh Jesus. I love being on steroids. I’ll miss these little evildoers once I taper down my dose into nothingness. I’ve never had this much energy in my whole entire life. I’m getting so much done and never feeling tired.

I have a feeling I’ll remember being on steroids for years and years to come. It’s like this really big experience.

Since I’m at it, I want to respond to the person who sent in a reading reques. My answer ist:

After all, I’m so filled with energy, it’s like I’m on steroids.

Our administration announced this huge event for Friday before the start of classes. Every department was going to host large groups of students, prepare food, activities, guided tours, celebrations.

Other departments put a lot of time, effort, and money into preparing. Some invited alumni who took a day off work to be there. Food was purchased. Rooms were decorated.

Students didn’t show up.

I prepared nothing, spent no money, gathered no people, decorated no rooms. So when students didn’t show up, there was no disappointment or waste.

I don’t want to be a cynical, jaded bastard but I can’t afford the wide-eyed hopefulness of other people who, against all evidence, still believe our administration can organize a large event without fucking up massively.

“But how did you know it wasn’t going to work?” people ask. “What would you have done if students had shown up?”

When you know that the sum of the angles in a triangle always runs to 180°, you don’t need to measure them manually every time. People keep measuring the triangle and feeling shocked when the result doesn’t vary.

This is the music that inspired the play by Vynnychenko that I am translating into English:

My dream is that the play would be staged in America with this music playing in the background.

I’m on page 20 out of 83.

There’s a great question in the comment section regarding the obsession with the human body that has engulfed US politics. The question is important because it points to the issue at the heart of our current ideological confrontation.

The human body is the greatest impediment to an absolute and unbridled human freedom. The body is an enemy of unconstrained choice. Our physicality frustrates our desire to be in complete control of our destiny. We can’t be whatever we want because our bodies won’t let us. The rage of a human being, who has assumed a godlike role and whose efforts to refashion the world are constantly thwarted by the limitations of his body, creates a simmering conflict that erupts on regular occasions.

The taming of our inflamed hubris is the only way out. But there’s no longer any circumscribing force. We have released ourselves from every duty, obligation or authority, and the body remains the last barrier between us and our capacity to be mini gods.

Why are young people so into astrology? They are dead serious about it and call it a science.

“Do you mean astronomy?” I asked naively.

“No, astrology,” they say. “It’s real science, you know.”

And it’s young men, too. When I was their age, it was a very middle-aged lady thing.

I’d go with The Burnout Society. I quote it more than anything else by him.

Some favorite quotes:

Depression began its ascent when the disciplinary model for behaviors, the rules of authority and observance of taboos that gave social classes as well as both sexes a specific destiny, broke against norms that invited us to undertake personal initiative by enjoining us to be ourselves. . . . The depressed individual is unable to measure up; he is tired of having to become himself

And more:

The process of repression or negation plays no role in contemporary psychic maladies such as depression, burnout, and ADHD. Instead, they indicate an excess of positivity, that is, not negation so much as the inability to say no.

And just one more:

The depressive has been wounded by internalized war. Depression is the sickness of a society that suffers from excessive positivity. It reflects a humanity waging war on itself.

Totally worth it, short, and very good.

Attendees at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago will have the opportunity to get a free abortion or vasectomy just blocks away from the event — and vasectomy appointments are filling up fast.

https://nypost.com/2024/08/17/us-news/free-abortions-vasectomies-will-be-available-to-dnc-attendees/

There are so many jokes begging to be made here but I’ll keep my peace and let others have their turn.