It’s heart-breaking to see the expertise in the federal government being discarded with reckless abandon. My wife spent a number of hours on hold with Social Security recently trying to resolve an issue for her elderly parents. I have to think Musk and Trump are playing with fire with DOGE’s chainsawing. SSA and the FAA are just two examples. Thanks to them, we are facing multiple potential disasters.
The cuts at the VA are also touching that third rail (and more heartbreak). I wonder if that will be a tipping point of sorts, or if it will be spun by the propaganda machine as something Biden/immigrants/LGBTQ people did. I'm worried the MAGA cult will never see what is happening right under their nose and who is actually doing the damage.
I get SS on top of my small income (took it early after the disaster of the covid economy), and without it, I'll be working until the day I die. I was hoping to at least cut back on my freelance work and move abroad to enjoy a lower cost of living. But my moving plans are on hold until I see what happens. I can't find myself stranded overseas with no SS and potentially no freelance income either if the economy tanks as predicted. The whole thing is sickening.
I’m scared of a lot that’s happening. But the immediacy of needing weather information is frightening as hell. I pay very close attention to the weather. My father worked for the FAA, and most of his job at the Flight Service Station was sharing info with the tower. My mother was from Oklahoma. I learned at a very young age the importance of NOAA and the NWS. I know they’re trying to make climate change go away, but people are gonna die without accurate data.
I agree with you. Nothing like not knowing a hurricane or tornado is coming. This is particularly true when you have a government that is no longer going to provide help when these disasters happen, where only for "natural" disasters will they provide up to maybe 25% of the cost of relief and rebuilding, with local communities expected to do the rest. So, what is your tax money going for? Probably Musk's and Bezos's pockets.
It's also frightening to have no water inspection, or food safety inspection and just to rely on businesses to police themselves. They have not done such a good job of that in the past, so why trust them now?
Those assholes aren't "playing with fire", they're setting fire to everything and accelerating it with gasoline. The damage they're doing will be irreparable if it's not stopped soon. At this point I think a real revolution is in order, especially since the Repugnant senators & reps just sit back and watch it all burn down.
I gotta say most of the Democrats are none too vocal either, although I realize they're not in power. They could be daily press conferences, organizing resistance activities, and the like. Instead, they're censuring their own party members for standing up to Trump's lies. In a way, they're worse than the Republicans because at least with the right, you expect treachery. Why are Dem politicians and the DNC fundraising to "fight" but doing absolutely nothing? It just feels like more corruption. I'm sick of the whole lot of them outside of Bernie, AOC, Crockett, Green, and a few others.
I had to call SS yesterday on an unrelated matter but was astounded when, on the automted answering service there was a message that said if applying for disability assistance it would be 230+ days to be evaluated and processed. Devastating.
I'm reading "It Can't Happen Here," written in the 30s. Every page is something that could be ripped from the headlines of a 2025 newspaper. It's uncanny and terrifying.
If you count service in the Union army, I'm the 4th generation of my family to serve the federal government. Retired now, but still working to save the agency where I spent my career - the Social Security Administration.
I could (and have) just cry over what is happening in this country. This I know deep in my bones and gut. I know what I see with my own eyes, not what someone is telling me.
Elon Musk got the republican candidate elected through devious means AND millions of dollars. I don’t know what the devious means were but I know they exist. And now he owns that republican and that republican OWES him for keeping him out of PRISON. And that is why this disaster is being foisted upon our country. Musk is out of control and the republican can’t and won’t do a damn thing about it. This I know deep in my bones and gut and I am so very sad and ANGRY!!
Janice, I feel exactly as you do, and I do believe with musks' influence in our country, the vote was "messed with" in favor of a person the country did not want. I am seriously angry, too, and at times try not to cry. I do everything I can in my small sphere to try to work against this nightmare. I hope that everyone gets their voter ID in order, and that the masses show up in numbers that cannot be questioned in 2026. It is the only way to slow (hopefully stop) the damage. The republican politicians must be voted out to allow Congress to do it's job. Protecting our right to vote is of paramount importance. Everyone must call their representatives (especially if they are in red states) and make sure the SAVE act is not passed.
I am encouraged by the push back we are seeing through Bernie's oligarchy tour. But so much push back has been blocked at every turn. Will the courts be able to reverse some of this craziness and will the republican obey court orders? Voting was our only hope in 2024 so we must redouble efforts. You are right.
Side step or jump over every block they throw. It's the only way to stay on offense. With people like you, me and the rest of us determined citizens, we cannot lose.
They’re trying to burn it all down so they can buy everything at pennies on the dollar and because they are sociopathic monsters they don’t care who gets hurt in the meantime.
I have my issues with Tolkien, but he nailed Trump/Musk in "The Scouring of the Shire," the penultimate chapter of "The Lord of the Rings." In it, the hobbits finally arrive back home to find that Saruman, the fallen wizard, has gotten there first and been hard at work with his goons causing as much ruination as possible.
It started small, with a stupid hobbit seeking more local power and turning to men for help in getting it. But it swiftly deteriorates into pure destruction -- Saruman's "revenge" for his own grievous losses (sound familiar?).
In LOTR, while the Dark Lord Sauron is the nominal fount of evil, he's not really all that interesting -- he's just evil; all he can do is evil, he really has no choice. Saruman is more interesting -- and more evil, by our measure -- because he did have a choice, and he chose to ruin and befoul that which was beautiful or serene and which he could not possess.
Trump and Musk are Sarumans -- especially the ruined and ruinous Saruman of "The Scouring." Internally weak and ruined, externally dangerous and ruinous. Tolkien's Saruman dies, hideously, and is revealed in death in all his ruin and emptiness, the facade of power and strength punctured. I doubt we will be as lucky, but the Shire was saved by one hobbit's (Merry's) recognition that they would all be crushed if they didn't act immediately, and with every weapon at their disposal. In which, I think, there is a lesson for us.
Not to get too deeply into the theology of Tolkien's Middle-Earth legendarium... but before Sauron became Sauron, he was — like Gandalf & Saruman — a member of the sub-god-caste called the Maiar.
As such, Sauron (though with another name) had been created good. He _chose_ to apprentice himself to Morgoth, the Enemy of the First Age, and thereby became evil.
Something similar was true of Morgoth too. He was created as an even higher caste of sub-deity, with the name Melkor. When the universe was brought into being by a sort of symphony of sub-divine singers conducted by the Creator, Melkor improvised his own dissonant part. That disobedience, the inability to be a true team player, was the Original Sin, if you will, which made Melkor become the embodiment of Evil called Morgoth.
Unless I am misremembering or misunderstanding Tolkien, in his view _no one is created evil; rather, evil is a choice._
Even Donald Trump. Even Elon Musk.
Tolkien was a devout Catholic. His views on evil-as-a-choice probably traced back to Satan's rebellion against God and "to rule in Hell rather than to serve in Heaven."
That's all quite correct, thanks for the illuminating post! Tolkien is always telling us something in his work, and The Silmarillion, which explains so much of the origins of his legendarium and the events of the First Age -- long before the days of hobbits and rings -- is perhaps his deepest and most heart-felt expression of his hopes, longings, and fears.
Sauron and Melkor in origin were both Maiar, or what we might call "angels", or even "gods"; the first creations of "Eru Iluvatar", JHVH, and granted free will. Melkor's rebellion and corruption of many fellow Maiar into his service is wholly in keeping with many Christian traditions, to which Tolkien was much attached.
PS: Correction: Melkor was of the Valar, not the Maiar, a higher order. I posted in haste but a kindly comrade here stepped up (below) to clarify. That is a mortifying error on my part, as someone who's read The Silmarillion a dozen times or more.
Actually, you're both... incomplete. The first, most powerful, angelic-type beings were called the Ainur, and played a role as co-creators of the universe. A small group of Ainur who "entered" Ea, became known as Valar. They had a sort of custodial role for that part of creation.
Melkor was created as one of the Ainur, but because he was rebellious and "cast out" as it were, he never was considered a Valar.
The defeat of Morgoth, which ended the First Age, came at the hands of a Man-Elf alliance. The reward given to the Men who aided in the War of the Jewels was the creation of the island continent Numenor, and the granting of unusually long & healthy lifespans. Sauron somehow survived the destruction at the end of the War and fled to Numenor, where he set about to seduce the leadership into believing that they could wrest immortality by force. The Numenoreans sent a battle fleet westward, beyond the territorial-waters limits they were given, and appeared ready to assault the "Undying Lands" where the Valar dwelt.
They cried out to Eru for aid. He responded by "breaking the world" — reshaping a flat-earth into a sphere, moving the Undying Lands into a topologically disconnected part of space, and sinking Numenor.
Thereafter, the Undying Lands and its easternmost territory that had been set aside for Elves could only be reached by the "Straight Path" that only Elven ships could sail across the ocean from Middle-earth. Thus ended the Second Age.
Righteous Numenoreans fled to MIddle-earth and established the kingdoms of Arnor & Gondor... and it's a little late to continue to the tale.
If I recall correctly, while Melkor/Morgoth was cast into the Void, beyond the walls of Ea, Sauron repented, or seemed to repent, and was summoned to Valinor to stand in judgment before the Valar and accept a penance -- but changed his mind (or "hardened his heart", like Pharaoh in the Moses story) and fled to Middle-earth instead and hid himself for a long time.
Yes, this is all true, thank you. I lie corrected (laptop on belly)! Ainur and their interweaving themes -- one imagines perfect octaves, fourths and fifths, into which Melkor kept introducing a tritone (or perhaps just thirds and sixths, which the medieval Church also found discordant). Of course it's such discord that makes our music interesting. Though who asked for the Trump tone cluster!?
All true indeed. And I thought about expanding my comment to at least touch on the whole Megillah (as it were). In that context, yes, Sauron, and even Melkor, had a kind of choice -- though quite constrained by authorial intentions!
In the narrower context of LOTR proper, though, Sauron's identity was long since forged -- he is not presented with a choice in the time frame of the trilogy. Others are tested: Gandalf, Aragorn, Galadriel, Faramir, and Sam all pass theirs with flying colors. Frodo holds out against nearly irresistable forces. Wormtongue, Saruman, Boromir fail terribly. Denethor, too, would likely have failed. Tom Bombadil -- scandalously removed from both films and radio play -- is immune by nature; he is "master" but dominion beyond his quasi-exempt neck of the woods has no hold on his mind.
If you widen the lens beyond LOTR, yes, ego corrupts Melkor, Melkor/Morgoth corrupts Sauron, Sauron corrupts Saruman, and Saruman corrupts Wormtongue. I think we're seeing some parallels: Putin corrupts Trump, Trump corrupts Musk, Musk corrupts teen techies (and probably eventually AI). And god knows there are plenty of Balrogs and orcs, as well as Saruman's orc/man hybrids.
Tolkien, unlike predecessors such as Edmund Spenser, almost invariably associates goodness with beauty. He has very few beautiful villains and very few ugly heroes. Also the Past is war-torn but somehow a more epic time (a la Beowulf), with all things (as the elves and ents perceive) dwindling.
And we've long behaved much like the hobbits of the Shire, dimly if at all aware of the greater world around and taking way too much for granted about our snug little democratic niche.
Actually it was Wormtongue, the servant of Saruman, who hypnotized the King of Rohan and then departed in infamy once Gandalf opened the eyes of the King, and squirmed away to the Shire after the Ents destroyed Isengard to denigrate the homeland...evil touches even the most innocent of places.
Wormtongue (Grima) accompanied Saruman (his master) from Isengard to the Shire. He killed the stupid hobbit Lotho Baggins, and then kills Saruman (having finally snapped), before being dispatched by hobbit archers. He's a rather pathetic character, Kash Patel perhaps?
Lucian painted a marvelous word picture, I saw it streaming in my in mind in technicolor a surround sound. A pleasant interlude underscoring an ongoing tragedy.
Thank you for this. Trump and Musks are both highly narcissistic sociopaths who despise others and as Musk said think that empathy is a flaw that is a “sin.” As Gustave Gilbert, an American Army psychologist who worked with the major Nazi War Criminals at the Nuremberg trials said:
“I told you once that I was searching for the nature of evil. I think I’ve come close to defining it: a lack of empathy. It’s the one characteristic that connects all the defendants. A genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow man. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.”
Brilliant example of both what federal workers do and how experience counts so much. New hires to replace existing personnel is losing institutional knowledge that is so essential.
If any of these maniacal curs had ever done anything in their lives, they wouldn't be indulging in this. It's like they want to turn the United States into Al Capp's Dog Patch. Only this Dog Patch all ready has fleas. Who will be the brave soul with the flea collars and the pound to incarcerate them? How soon can it happen? Beware of the Ides of March.
I've had the misfortune of flipping the channel to something that has her visage on, and every time it reminds me of the phrase about lipstick on a pig. Don't know why.
Great story and great example of a government employee who goes exactly by the book as he i understands it, never allowing human intelligence/analysis/logic to interfere with his sense of importance and power. And then another employee in a supervisory capacity with much more experience knowing exactly what to do.
But the main point here as was pointed out,is when all the dust settles after the musk wrecking ball takes its toll will be families torn asunder as a result of lost jobs, seniors and others unable to get an appointment or worse unable to even make any kind of contact with SSA employees. In fact according to Bernie Sanders today people all over are telling him they can't even apply for a social security pension or SSI disability. Tis all could lead not only to hunger but loss their homes and rental units, myself included since my only income now is Social Security.
Meanwhile the GOP Congress members appear to be a stupor like deer caught in a car's headlights, frozen with fear that if they speak up the wrath of their God (Trump) will descend upon them and his fiery breath will reduce them to a cinder. The ones who do speak make weak excuses and say it is all necessary, not that they believe that but it pleases their master. One Congressman on TV was complaining about agitators at a talk he was giving. He said nearly the whole crowd were agitators, which I thought funny because he was saying in essence no one hardly would have been there if you deduct the agitators from the crowd. No, dumbo, they were mostly your constituents who were very angry but you insult their intelligence by saying everything is cool.
Both Trump and Musk are like bulls in a china shop, totally unaware of the delicate porcelain and crystal being smashed all around them.
Great story! I had a similar passport experience where someone who knew what they were doing helped me expedite mine. I expected things to be bad under this cabal, but I'm still gobsmacked by exactly how bad they are and how fast things are moving towards true collapse.
I can relate to that. Similar kind of thing getting RealID. Passport name didn't match driver's license - the state does not like last names with two parts. What could have been a week-long nightmare was solved in an hour.
Imagine if it had been in three parts as "van der Poel," which is, as I'm sure you know, quite common also (I did my gap year many decades ago in the Netherlands). They would have had smoke coming out of their ears! Much like the IRS, who can't seem to deal with me having a physical address AND a mailing address.
Yep, and that's exactly the way it's spelled in Waarmond, The Netherlands. Went there in '78; saw one of the houses my father had lived in as a boy - just before it was to be razed, as it was only a few feet from the edge of the polder. An aunt told me there were only two names in town 'van der Poel' ('of the water') and Ondervater ('under water'). I've thought of changing it, but held off and kept the Ellis Island result.
Wow, I love the idea of the name Ondervater -- it sounds like it's from a novel. Those polders are really something. The engineering is amazing. I've been to Leiden, quite nearby your father's village. Such a beautiful and hospitable country.
Newly appointed US energy secretary Chris White, a dupe for the oil & gas industry, says climate change is just a "side effect of building the modern world." Well his "side effect" will wipe out their "modern" world along with all life on Planet Earth.
It’s heart-breaking to see the expertise in the federal government being discarded with reckless abandon. My wife spent a number of hours on hold with Social Security recently trying to resolve an issue for her elderly parents. I have to think Musk and Trump are playing with fire with DOGE’s chainsawing. SSA and the FAA are just two examples. Thanks to them, we are facing multiple potential disasters.
The cuts at the VA are also touching that third rail (and more heartbreak). I wonder if that will be a tipping point of sorts, or if it will be spun by the propaganda machine as something Biden/immigrants/LGBTQ people did. I'm worried the MAGA cult will never see what is happening right under their nose and who is actually doing the damage.
I get SS on top of my small income (took it early after the disaster of the covid economy), and without it, I'll be working until the day I die. I was hoping to at least cut back on my freelance work and move abroad to enjoy a lower cost of living. But my moving plans are on hold until I see what happens. I can't find myself stranded overseas with no SS and potentially no freelance income either if the economy tanks as predicted. The whole thing is sickening.
A friend's son was summarily dismissed from NOAA with all of his colleagues, so there goes our climate data.
I’m scared of a lot that’s happening. But the immediacy of needing weather information is frightening as hell. I pay very close attention to the weather. My father worked for the FAA, and most of his job at the Flight Service Station was sharing info with the tower. My mother was from Oklahoma. I learned at a very young age the importance of NOAA and the NWS. I know they’re trying to make climate change go away, but people are gonna die without accurate data.
I agree with you. Nothing like not knowing a hurricane or tornado is coming. This is particularly true when you have a government that is no longer going to provide help when these disasters happen, where only for "natural" disasters will they provide up to maybe 25% of the cost of relief and rebuilding, with local communities expected to do the rest. So, what is your tax money going for? Probably Musk's and Bezos's pockets.
It's also frightening to have no water inspection, or food safety inspection and just to rely on businesses to police themselves. They have not done such a good job of that in the past, so why trust them now?
Those assholes aren't "playing with fire", they're setting fire to everything and accelerating it with gasoline. The damage they're doing will be irreparable if it's not stopped soon. At this point I think a real revolution is in order, especially since the Repugnant senators & reps just sit back and watch it all burn down.
I gotta say most of the Democrats are none too vocal either, although I realize they're not in power. They could be daily press conferences, organizing resistance activities, and the like. Instead, they're censuring their own party members for standing up to Trump's lies. In a way, they're worse than the Republicans because at least with the right, you expect treachery. Why are Dem politicians and the DNC fundraising to "fight" but doing absolutely nothing? It just feels like more corruption. I'm sick of the whole lot of them outside of Bernie, AOC, Crockett, Green, and a few others.
I had to call SS yesterday on an unrelated matter but was astounded when, on the automted answering service there was a message that said if applying for disability assistance it would be 230+ days to be evaluated and processed. Devastating.
What is wrong with Congress?
With half of our own people?
Our country should not tolerate such gross wrong doing… we are experiencing in our own way what Gaza and Lebanon and Ukraine are experiencing.
And our own citizens are doing it.
I'm reading "It Can't Happen Here," written in the 30s. Every page is something that could be ripped from the headlines of a 2025 newspaper. It's uncanny and terrifying.
Yup.
If you count service in the Union army, I'm the 4th generation of my family to serve the federal government. Retired now, but still working to save the agency where I spent my career - the Social Security Administration.
I could (and have) just cry over what is happening in this country. This I know deep in my bones and gut. I know what I see with my own eyes, not what someone is telling me.
Elon Musk got the republican candidate elected through devious means AND millions of dollars. I don’t know what the devious means were but I know they exist. And now he owns that republican and that republican OWES him for keeping him out of PRISON. And that is why this disaster is being foisted upon our country. Musk is out of control and the republican can’t and won’t do a damn thing about it. This I know deep in my bones and gut and I am so very sad and ANGRY!!
Janice, I feel exactly as you do, and I do believe with musks' influence in our country, the vote was "messed with" in favor of a person the country did not want. I am seriously angry, too, and at times try not to cry. I do everything I can in my small sphere to try to work against this nightmare. I hope that everyone gets their voter ID in order, and that the masses show up in numbers that cannot be questioned in 2026. It is the only way to slow (hopefully stop) the damage. The republican politicians must be voted out to allow Congress to do it's job. Protecting our right to vote is of paramount importance. Everyone must call their representatives (especially if they are in red states) and make sure the SAVE act is not passed.
I am encouraged by the push back we are seeing through Bernie's oligarchy tour. But so much push back has been blocked at every turn. Will the courts be able to reverse some of this craziness and will the republican obey court orders? Voting was our only hope in 2024 so we must redouble efforts. You are right.
Side step or jump over every block they throw. It's the only way to stay on offense. With people like you, me and the rest of us determined citizens, we cannot lose.
Right on!
They’re trying to burn it all down so they can buy everything at pennies on the dollar and because they are sociopathic monsters they don’t care who gets hurt in the meantime.
I have my issues with Tolkien, but he nailed Trump/Musk in "The Scouring of the Shire," the penultimate chapter of "The Lord of the Rings." In it, the hobbits finally arrive back home to find that Saruman, the fallen wizard, has gotten there first and been hard at work with his goons causing as much ruination as possible.
It started small, with a stupid hobbit seeking more local power and turning to men for help in getting it. But it swiftly deteriorates into pure destruction -- Saruman's "revenge" for his own grievous losses (sound familiar?).
In LOTR, while the Dark Lord Sauron is the nominal fount of evil, he's not really all that interesting -- he's just evil; all he can do is evil, he really has no choice. Saruman is more interesting -- and more evil, by our measure -- because he did have a choice, and he chose to ruin and befoul that which was beautiful or serene and which he could not possess.
Trump and Musk are Sarumans -- especially the ruined and ruinous Saruman of "The Scouring." Internally weak and ruined, externally dangerous and ruinous. Tolkien's Saruman dies, hideously, and is revealed in death in all his ruin and emptiness, the facade of power and strength punctured. I doubt we will be as lucky, but the Shire was saved by one hobbit's (Merry's) recognition that they would all be crushed if they didn't act immediately, and with every weapon at their disposal. In which, I think, there is a lesson for us.
Not to get too deeply into the theology of Tolkien's Middle-Earth legendarium... but before Sauron became Sauron, he was — like Gandalf & Saruman — a member of the sub-god-caste called the Maiar.
As such, Sauron (though with another name) had been created good. He _chose_ to apprentice himself to Morgoth, the Enemy of the First Age, and thereby became evil.
Something similar was true of Morgoth too. He was created as an even higher caste of sub-deity, with the name Melkor. When the universe was brought into being by a sort of symphony of sub-divine singers conducted by the Creator, Melkor improvised his own dissonant part. That disobedience, the inability to be a true team player, was the Original Sin, if you will, which made Melkor become the embodiment of Evil called Morgoth.
Unless I am misremembering or misunderstanding Tolkien, in his view _no one is created evil; rather, evil is a choice._
Even Donald Trump. Even Elon Musk.
Tolkien was a devout Catholic. His views on evil-as-a-choice probably traced back to Satan's rebellion against God and "to rule in Hell rather than to serve in Heaven."
That's all quite correct, thanks for the illuminating post! Tolkien is always telling us something in his work, and The Silmarillion, which explains so much of the origins of his legendarium and the events of the First Age -- long before the days of hobbits and rings -- is perhaps his deepest and most heart-felt expression of his hopes, longings, and fears.
Sauron and Melkor in origin were both Maiar, or what we might call "angels", or even "gods"; the first creations of "Eru Iluvatar", JHVH, and granted free will. Melkor's rebellion and corruption of many fellow Maiar into his service is wholly in keeping with many Christian traditions, to which Tolkien was much attached.
PS: Correction: Melkor was of the Valar, not the Maiar, a higher order. I posted in haste but a kindly comrade here stepped up (below) to clarify. That is a mortifying error on my part, as someone who's read The Silmarillion a dozen times or more.
Small correction: Melkor was a Vala.
Actually, you're both... incomplete. The first, most powerful, angelic-type beings were called the Ainur, and played a role as co-creators of the universe. A small group of Ainur who "entered" Ea, became known as Valar. They had a sort of custodial role for that part of creation.
Melkor was created as one of the Ainur, but because he was rebellious and "cast out" as it were, he never was considered a Valar.
The defeat of Morgoth, which ended the First Age, came at the hands of a Man-Elf alliance. The reward given to the Men who aided in the War of the Jewels was the creation of the island continent Numenor, and the granting of unusually long & healthy lifespans. Sauron somehow survived the destruction at the end of the War and fled to Numenor, where he set about to seduce the leadership into believing that they could wrest immortality by force. The Numenoreans sent a battle fleet westward, beyond the territorial-waters limits they were given, and appeared ready to assault the "Undying Lands" where the Valar dwelt.
They cried out to Eru for aid. He responded by "breaking the world" — reshaping a flat-earth into a sphere, moving the Undying Lands into a topologically disconnected part of space, and sinking Numenor.
Thereafter, the Undying Lands and its easternmost territory that had been set aside for Elves could only be reached by the "Straight Path" that only Elven ships could sail across the ocean from Middle-earth. Thus ended the Second Age.
Righteous Numenoreans fled to MIddle-earth and established the kingdoms of Arnor & Gondor... and it's a little late to continue to the tale.
If I recall correctly, while Melkor/Morgoth was cast into the Void, beyond the walls of Ea, Sauron repented, or seemed to repent, and was summoned to Valinor to stand in judgment before the Valar and accept a penance -- but changed his mind (or "hardened his heart", like Pharaoh in the Moses story) and fled to Middle-earth instead and hid himself for a long time.
Yes, this is all true, thank you. I lie corrected (laptop on belly)! Ainur and their interweaving themes -- one imagines perfect octaves, fourths and fifths, into which Melkor kept introducing a tritone (or perhaps just thirds and sixths, which the medieval Church also found discordant). Of course it's such discord that makes our music interesting. Though who asked for the Trump tone cluster!?
Aaiiee!! You're completely right! My BIG mistake there! Urgh!
No Aman for you, my friend!
I must plead my case (haste? insanity? doofusness?) to Manwe and obey his judgment as to penance! (Varda, grant mercy!)
A friend mentioned re
Isn’t this pretty much the story of Darth Vader also?
All true indeed. And I thought about expanding my comment to at least touch on the whole Megillah (as it were). In that context, yes, Sauron, and even Melkor, had a kind of choice -- though quite constrained by authorial intentions!
In the narrower context of LOTR proper, though, Sauron's identity was long since forged -- he is not presented with a choice in the time frame of the trilogy. Others are tested: Gandalf, Aragorn, Galadriel, Faramir, and Sam all pass theirs with flying colors. Frodo holds out against nearly irresistable forces. Wormtongue, Saruman, Boromir fail terribly. Denethor, too, would likely have failed. Tom Bombadil -- scandalously removed from both films and radio play -- is immune by nature; he is "master" but dominion beyond his quasi-exempt neck of the woods has no hold on his mind.
If you widen the lens beyond LOTR, yes, ego corrupts Melkor, Melkor/Morgoth corrupts Sauron, Sauron corrupts Saruman, and Saruman corrupts Wormtongue. I think we're seeing some parallels: Putin corrupts Trump, Trump corrupts Musk, Musk corrupts teen techies (and probably eventually AI). And god knows there are plenty of Balrogs and orcs, as well as Saruman's orc/man hybrids.
Tolkien, unlike predecessors such as Edmund Spenser, almost invariably associates goodness with beauty. He has very few beautiful villains and very few ugly heroes. Also the Past is war-torn but somehow a more epic time (a la Beowulf), with all things (as the elves and ents perceive) dwindling.
We are surrounded by Orcs and Orcishness, and the proof is everywhere you look.
And we've long behaved much like the hobbits of the Shire, dimly if at all aware of the greater world around and taking way too much for granted about our snug little democratic niche.
Nice analogy! Now where's our Gandalf or our Bagginses?!
Hmm, I guess I'll have to pull out LOTR and put those books in my pile to reread.
Actually it was Wormtongue, the servant of Saruman, who hypnotized the King of Rohan and then departed in infamy once Gandalf opened the eyes of the King, and squirmed away to the Shire after the Ents destroyed Isengard to denigrate the homeland...evil touches even the most innocent of places.
Wormtongue (Grima) accompanied Saruman (his master) from Isengard to the Shire. He killed the stupid hobbit Lotho Baggins, and then kills Saruman (having finally snapped), before being dispatched by hobbit archers. He's a rather pathetic character, Kash Patel perhaps?
that’s right! great part of the saga that got left out of the movies
The passport issuance story sounds like a great movie scene!
Lucian painted a marvelous word picture, I saw it streaming in my in mind in technicolor a surround sound. A pleasant interlude underscoring an ongoing tragedy.
My first job interview was with Clay Felker in 1980, and my knees are still knocking from it 45 years later.
Excellent.
Gotta keep the pressure on.
Gotta keep the Psychopaths scrambling to cover their Faciast white Supremacist Asses.
Lucian,
Thank you for this. Trump and Musks are both highly narcissistic sociopaths who despise others and as Musk said think that empathy is a flaw that is a “sin.” As Gustave Gilbert, an American Army psychologist who worked with the major Nazi War Criminals at the Nuremberg trials said:
“I told you once that I was searching for the nature of evil. I think I’ve come close to defining it: a lack of empathy. It’s the one characteristic that connects all the defendants. A genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow man. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.”
Thank you, be safe, and watch your six.
Steve Dundas
Brilliant example of both what federal workers do and how experience counts so much. New hires to replace existing personnel is losing institutional knowledge that is so essential.
If any of these maniacal curs had ever done anything in their lives, they wouldn't be indulging in this. It's like they want to turn the United States into Al Capp's Dog Patch. Only this Dog Patch all ready has fleas. Who will be the brave soul with the flea collars and the pound to incarcerate them? How soon can it happen? Beware of the Ides of March.
Pound them?
I'd take a page from Kristi Noem & just shoot those mangy flea-bitten Dogs of DOGE.
I've had the misfortune of flipping the channel to something that has her visage on, and every time it reminds me of the phrase about lipstick on a pig. Don't know why.
So THAT's what it is about her!! Thanks for pointing that out, James. I'll never view her the same way again!!😁
I second that motion!!
Great story and great example of a government employee who goes exactly by the book as he i understands it, never allowing human intelligence/analysis/logic to interfere with his sense of importance and power. And then another employee in a supervisory capacity with much more experience knowing exactly what to do.
But the main point here as was pointed out,is when all the dust settles after the musk wrecking ball takes its toll will be families torn asunder as a result of lost jobs, seniors and others unable to get an appointment or worse unable to even make any kind of contact with SSA employees. In fact according to Bernie Sanders today people all over are telling him they can't even apply for a social security pension or SSI disability. Tis all could lead not only to hunger but loss their homes and rental units, myself included since my only income now is Social Security.
Meanwhile the GOP Congress members appear to be a stupor like deer caught in a car's headlights, frozen with fear that if they speak up the wrath of their God (Trump) will descend upon them and his fiery breath will reduce them to a cinder. The ones who do speak make weak excuses and say it is all necessary, not that they believe that but it pleases their master. One Congressman on TV was complaining about agitators at a talk he was giving. He said nearly the whole crowd were agitators, which I thought funny because he was saying in essence no one hardly would have been there if you deduct the agitators from the crowd. No, dumbo, they were mostly your constituents who were very angry but you insult their intelligence by saying everything is cool.
Both Trump and Musk are like bulls in a china shop, totally unaware of the delicate porcelain and crystal being smashed all around them.
They tell .
Great story! I had a similar passport experience where someone who knew what they were doing helped me expedite mine. I expected things to be bad under this cabal, but I'm still gobsmacked by exactly how bad they are and how fast things are moving towards true collapse.
I can relate to that. Similar kind of thing getting RealID. Passport name didn't match driver's license - the state does not like last names with two parts. What could have been a week-long nightmare was solved in an hour.
Imagine if it had been in three parts as "van der Poel," which is, as I'm sure you know, quite common also (I did my gap year many decades ago in the Netherlands). They would have had smoke coming out of their ears! Much like the IRS, who can't seem to deal with me having a physical address AND a mailing address.
Yep, and that's exactly the way it's spelled in Waarmond, The Netherlands. Went there in '78; saw one of the houses my father had lived in as a boy - just before it was to be razed, as it was only a few feet from the edge of the polder. An aunt told me there were only two names in town 'van der Poel' ('of the water') and Ondervater ('under water'). I've thought of changing it, but held off and kept the Ellis Island result.
Wow, I love the idea of the name Ondervater -- it sounds like it's from a novel. Those polders are really something. The engineering is amazing. I've been to Leiden, quite nearby your father's village. Such a beautiful and hospitable country.
RIP Life on Planet Earth.
Newly appointed US energy secretary Chris White, a dupe for the oil & gas industry, says climate change is just a "side effect of building the modern world." Well his "side effect" will wipe out their "modern" world along with all life on Planet Earth.
Horrifying. We all do need boots, because the S&#T being spread around by the great previcator is going to drown us. Stop the bleeding.
Nixon started it, Trump will end it.