Conspiracy theories are lies, get it right.

People are fucking nuts. This country is full of nitwits and assholes. You ever notice that? Nitwits, assholes, fuck-ups, scumbags, jerk-offs, and dipshits. And they all vote. In fact, sometimes you get the impression that they're the only ones who vote. ~George Carlin.

So, at some point yesterday some crazy dipshit derailed a train, trying to crash a locomotive into the Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy, because something something government takeover gazpacho. Tell me something, conspiracy theorists. Why would the government need to take over, in a hostile fashion, places that it already governs? In fact, given that this moron is probably a conservative, and California is not politically conservative...while our Federal government is currently dominated by Republicans, you'd think assholes like this guy would welcome some kind of Federal takeover? Well, as friends of mine keep telling me...you'd think, is exactly where I'm wrong. Why? Because these people don't think, or rather their thought process is so messed up by their crazy shitty politics that to anybody...almost regardless of views...who has a brain in their head, these fucking people appear not to, and they'll justify it with nonsensical ranting about some nonexistent "New World Order" that has its origins in rabid, willful misunderstandings of a quote from a speech made by a conservative Republican. Think about the mental gymnastics required to believe that George H.W. Bush of all people was out to get you. Think about what that might do to a person's mind.

I mean, what kind of idiot, on a spur of the moment impulse, thinks they're going to somehow crash a train into a ship, especially considering it would've had to cross water? I mean, theoretically if you only know action movie physics, you could turn 200-some tons of train into a missile against 50,000-some tons of ship from a high enough launching point, but this wasn't that.

Of course, this idiot's statements to the FBI suggest that he was a Q-Anon moron, so it's probably an exercise in futility to even try and figure out what he was thinking.

In effect this is probably the most idiotic attempted terrorist attack that the United States Armed Forces has ever seen. I could be wrong, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I don't think I am. I'm not sure this fucking fool would appreciate me thinking in those terms, but that's what it is, so that's how it should be framed.

Also, it's a cop-out to say that he wasn't. I firmly believe in a few years this Q-bullshit is going to end up being considered a mental illness. I mean, I suppose it's possible that the dude was Schizophrenic or something...but even if he wasn't his faculties may have been so deformed by right-wing paranoia or propaganda that it's real damn hard to tell the difference.

If it helps any, the FBI among others has warned that Q-Anon is a domestic terrorism threat. So there's that, too.

These people live in a world haunted by demons and superstition. A world where governments and institutions are somehow out to "get" you. You know, things that I, as a young Christian and conservative, was taught not to take seriously.

It's not really an exaggeration to say that they regard anything that's a threat to their demons and superstition as a bigger threat to their worldview than, ya know, dying of some horrible disease.

And while most of the world looks to at least one degree or another to reason and science to save their ass, these people think Donald Trump will somehow magically be able to protect them, or God will save them in some way or that these are the End Times. I'm sorry to say that I've had personal experience with somebody making that last argument, and yet they have some half-baked idea that they're going to be safe, somehow.

No, I don't get it either.

I will say, to that person's credit, that they aren't a racist or a Trump Supporter. Not that I really see much of a difference between the two anymore.

I see that Trump is trying to start in on the racist bullshit again as a distraction from his own incompetence. Don't fall for it. The whole "Caravan" thing didn't really amount to all that much the last time.

The threat here is not some devious "Other." It's these fools that walk among us, until relatively recently their amorality and incompetence was hidden in the humdrum banality of everyday life, but adversity and crisis has a way of showing a person's true character for all to see.

Trump is shit. His supporters are shit. Republicans are shit for enabling this.

If that wasn't obvious before, it should be obvious now.

Conspiracy theories, lack of critical thinking, promotion of magical thinking and willful ignorance are all things I was taught were not conservative values.

At this point, though, it really seems like they don't have all that much else left.

It might seem like a big deal to say that in the middle of probably the biggest medical emergency in living memory, these fucking people regard experts and health care professionals...not to mention the State...as the enemy.

What kind of world must these people live in, that the people who are trying to save their lives are seen as a bigger threat than the virus that's succeeding at taking their lives? Is ideology that much of a hell of a drug?

The short answer is, fuck yes it is.

But you have to understand something.

If you really want to see what kind of shit these people are, throw in a little racism and a few right-wing shibboleths.

Like this fucking idiot, arguing against expanding ACA health insurance enrollment because "illegal" immigrants i.e. brown people might get health care.

No, seriously, fuck these motherfuckers.

Of course, when that's these idiots' worldview why not throw in a little nativism and shameless lies about foreigners while they're at it? This kind of stuff is always, in my experience, complete and total horse shit.

But of course they have to try to make shit up to make it sound like there's no way anything could be better than America's screwed up capitalist health care system, because base jingoism is part of their identity

I spent half my life dealing with the occasional yahoo spouting that kind of crap, telling me that it just took too long to get health care in any country that had "Socialized Medicine" but the difference between  me and a lot of other people was that I had a summer neighbor who was a Canadian-American dual citizen.

The only times her family dealt with US health care was when they had to see specialists that might be just a little better than their Canadian counterparts, or have expertise in a specific needed area, or for emergencies. Otherwise, these people were seasonal neighbors who spent most of the year living in Detroit, so if they needed to go to the doctor, it was just a short trip across the bridge to Windsor, Ontario, which was where this lady was from, anyway.

The two main reasons US health care is such a mess are basically capitalism and racism.

Trump is so determined to poke Barack Obama in the eye that he's blocking people from getting health insurance in the middle of a pandemic. I don't know about you, but personally I think that's kinda fucked up.

Oh, and if you don't, Fuck You! It really is as simple as that. There's no excuse for this.

Republicans just cannot imagine people not wanting other people to die, not if it means giving up capitalism, even a little bit. They'd rather watch the world burn, and their money become useless, than give it up, even a little bit.

And they'll lie like a motherfucker to try and keep it too, even about dumb obvious shit like the fact that South Korea is a democratic and free country, which it of course is.

But here's the thing, even more than hokey religious doctrines, conspiracy theories or racism, the thing that deforms the Republican psyche is this:

When Republicans say "Freedom" they mean only the "freedom" to make money. All the pastors and priests and philosophers and circus-act activists and politicians and two-bit fanatics of every stripe are nothing more than accessories to or distractions from this fact. Racism, petty hatreds, religion, sexism, this gimcrack pathetic "nationalism" that's been so popular these last few years? It's all about trying to prevent as many other people as possible from taking part in Capitalism.

Even though capitalism itself has become big and colorblind enough that it needs all of those people participating in order to even function.

If you want to know what the root of the problem is, there it fucking is.

If you want a better country, vote these bastards out, and the more they try to prevent that, the more the other option of making each and every one of them about a foot shorter from the neck up becomes a possibility.

These fools would rather see the world end, than have to learn to make do with just a few millions less, and all of this other crap stems from that one issue. Conspiracy theories are lies to protect unregulated capitalism.

If you want a better country, you have to be better citizens, and stop putting up with this bullshit.