I’m wary of the carnavalesque protests and marches that are “against everything bad and in favor of everything good” because, as we have seen throughout the past 20 years, they always serve as harbingers of some new and enormous triumph of neoliberalism (aka liquid capital.) Whenever they happen – Spain, Russia, US, etc – it’s a sign that fifteen minutes later some massive neoliberal triumph is about to occur.

It’s obviously not a coincidence. The active, engaged, progressively-minded part of the population displaces its energies into the realm of the consumerist, infantile, and disengaged pseudo-protests. The path is open for capital to sweep in because it’s clear there’s nobody there to stop it.

Here is an example of what I mean by painful earnestness. Somebody posted the following poem on FB:

Oliver is not my favorite poet but it’s obvious from the format of the piece that it’s a poem. It’s clearly not an official statement from the American Psychiatric Association. Taking it as a statement of clinical fact is clearly an unproductive approach.

Immediately, though, somebody comments, in a tone of “passionate intensity” that what the poem says is wrong. Anxiety can’t be so easily overcome. You can’t just decide not to suffer from anxiety. And besides, if you haven’t gotten rheumatism yet, it doesn’t mean you won’t get it in the future.

The commenter is clearly sincere. And all she’s saying is actually true. What’s kind of scary, though, is her utter incapacity to see that delivering these truisms in response to a work of literature is silly and somewhat embarrassing.

Back in the USSR, there were the cynics who adopted the rhetoric and used it to enrich themselves. And there were the simpletons who actually believed it. The latter were a lot scarier than the former because their earnestness allowed for no critical distance between them and the slogans. Since then, the readiness earnestly to sloganeer has never ceased to scare me.

The #Metoo march is a great thing because the only real alternative is for people to ferment on social media. Being physically active outside in the fresh air with other people is always better than sitting hunched over a cell phone alone. Neither activity is even remotely political but the former is less likely to make one sick, so that’s good.

In the carnavalesque activities, the costumes and the slogans are always the best part. I saw a couple of good, creative posters on social media but most are embarrassingly earnest.

It’s great that people went and had a good time.

The repeated spectacles of impending government shutdowns are symbolic reenactments of the death of the nation-state. The issues over which the shutdowns almost happen are indicators of what we collectively think will destroy the nation-state.

As you know, the 2018 soccer world cup will be taking place in Russia. Eleven Russian cities will host games.

What you probably don’t know is that all these 11 cities are getting millions of rubles in finding to slaughter stray cats and dogs. The goal is to clean up the streets and make the cities more welcoming to the tourists. Right now, the stray animal issue is do bad that streets are both dangerous and drowning in dog shit.

Dog-catchers often slaughter dogs and cats who do have owners or live in shelters because they are paid by the corpse. Every night, dozens – and sometimes up to 200 – of dead bodies of slaughtered animals are dragged away to be burned. The snow is covered with red patches where the animals bled.

Not only can Klara recite the alphabet from start to finish, but I just discovered she knows half the letters, too. It’s creepy because I’m not teaching it to her. She just picks it up.

The wars over white-collar jobs. This is specifically the Google version of the wars but they are coming to all of us.

This is the way Trump needs to be discussed.

I thought everybody was supposed to be whatever they say. So why is anybody questioning anybody’s narrative of their weight and height at all?

I never thought I could care about the well-being of an animal, but I do feel sad for the poor critter that ended with these weird folks.

Do people realize how nuts they sound with this kind of article?

A truly scientific approach to deciding whether to have children.

Who cares if onions can make you cry? What’s needed is the kind that can be eaten without making one stink for hours afterwards.

People seem completely normal, and then you read this kind of post and discover they are raving lunatics. And this person makes a living from being some sort of a life coach, which is doubly scary.

As promised, here is Klara devouring borscht:

It’s not easy to film because she usually has her face very close to the bowl for fear of getting it all over herself.

What’s really great is that we now have meaningful conversations.

“So what did you do at school today?”

“I played babies.”

“Who did you play with?”

“I played with Hensley.”

“Did you sing songs?”

“Yes.”

“Which ones?”

“Abcdefghijklomnpqrstuvwxyz.”

“What did you have for lunch?”

“I eat snowman cookie!”

“Are you lying to me right now?”

“Yes!”

A good day is when I manage to:

• Cook
• Do something around the house
• Work on my research
• Read theory
• Take Klara to an activity

A great day is all of the above plus I manage to

• Go to the gym
• Work on my Basque

A fantastic day is all of the above plus I get to see

• Klara eat borscht

Do people really, honestly think that if Dreamers were, say, Russian or Ukrainian or somebody equally white, they wouldn’t be deported? Then why were both my husband and I threatened with deportation even while still completely legal in the US?

People from Ukraine find it extremely hard even to get a tourist visa because the consulates are so terrified some of them might want to stay. Even when already living in Canada as permanent residents, Ukrainians are often not allowed to come to the US for something like a week-long business trip. We are deeply unwanted in the US, and we know it. 

So what does any of this have to do either with racism or with Trump?