The goal is to remake the US into something else. A Christian Patriarchy + Oiligarchy with sham voting every four years. The biggest wild card in their plans is Trump, but as long as he gets to pretend he’s Putin 2.0 – which literally means being able to point his finger to see someone killed – he’ll be happy and easy to play.

Overall, there’s no limit to how fucked we are. There are no brakes and there’s no steering wheel.

Think militias deputized as enforcers.

Think protests put down by the military ordered to shoot to kill.

Think indoctrination of children and political/militaristic organizations for teens.

Think history books rewritten, science education dumbed down, evolution and global warming illegal to even mention.

Think marriage rights taken away.

Think voting rights taken away and voting laws rammed through to ensure Republicans win.

Think Republicans getting enough state legislatures both to call a Constitutional Convention and to ratify a slew of amendments to rework citizenship, enshrine Christianity into the constitution, and generally butcher the Bill of Rights.

Think “real Americans” going after and imprisoning and/or killing hundreds, thousands, millions of other Americans.

Think purity tests and identification papers, total surveillance, digital tracking of every word and action and movement.

Think of your street with a dead body in the middle of it and everyone afraid to go near it.

Think of being terrified for your own life if you accidentally hear someone say something against The Party.

Think of this very comment used as evidence to lock me up or have me killed.

There is nothing, nothing at all, standing in their way. Like in most one-party systems, the competition among the players will be to see how extreme they can get in order to prove themselves to their party, while the rest of us who vainly hope they’ll show restraint will pay the price.

I hope I’m wrong about most of the above. It may not get that bad. But, again, we’ve gone over the cliff and there’s nowhere but a helluva lot of straight down.

Freebird. It’s the audio equivalent of Hookworm.

He doesn’t open the Bible because he never learned how to open a book.

Love this idea.

If the zombie’s body still has some link to the soul such that it could see and react to the ghost, they could make an extremely awkward yet dangerous team.

“Come over this way, buddy! Brains over here!”

“Brainsh?” Shuffle, shuffle.

“Yup, see?” The ghost points triumphantly at a hamster cage. “Lots of juicy little brains to eat!”

“Awww… Tired of mowsh brainsh! WANT HOOMAN BRAINSH!”

Zombie takes another vicious swipe at the ghost but finds only air.

“Why can no eat you brainsh again?”

“As I’ve explained all evening, I’m ethereal, not really here, sorry, friend. It’s mouse or nothing.”

The zombie’s shoulders slump in disappointment, but he turns to the hamster cage. The hamsters peer back, vaguely uneasy.

“C’mere cute liddle mowshes…”

Clang, squeak, munch, munch, munch.