The Newtown Pentacle

Thursday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Thanks. Thanks have therefore been given, go shop now.

The good news is that we’ve made it to another Thanksgiving. Personally, I’m thankful that most of my friends have made it through Covid with not much more than a few scars, although there’s a cohort of folks who aren’t with us anymore. I’m not thankful for the acrimony and weird ideations which have become mainstream thought, nor for being forced into starting conversations with “do you really believe that the government is omnipotent”?

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Let’s pretend for a moment that the United States Government has the sort of far reaching technical acumen and information discipline that would result in them having secret technologies like “nanobots” available to them, which allow them to control minds and alter human genetics. Given everything you know about our Government, don’t you think that you’d see a battalion of Captain America’s raising a flag in Tehran if we had this sort of super hero movie tech? Wouldn’t the first thing America did with this new tech involve picking a drug or terror war fight with some 98 pound weakling of a country in the Third World, to test it out on the battlefield and develop tactics?

Now, saying that, the whole Newtown Creek dealie puts me in touch with all layers of Government on a regular basis. Federal, State, Local. Trust me when I tell you that the paper trail associated with telling somebody that their shoelaces are untied would be miles long, vulnerable to foil applications, and a Congressional Committee would investigate why loafers weren’t considered, given the laces issue, in the name of screwing with the Clintons. Conspiracies of anything other than indifference, or “that’s not my job,” or “procedure” are impossible for the simple reason of “ass covering.” They’re not that good, our government employees, largely because the pay sucks and they are doing this gig for the pension. If they were any good at their jobs, they’d be working in the corporate world for an oil company or an investment bank. Even there, it’s all about the cash and getting yours, not controlling a population of “sheeple.” The average citizen is considered to be little more than a consumer, a customer, a metaphorical member of a demographic cohort – an obstacle or an abstraction.

That’s something to be thankful about, ultimately.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I always find it odd that the same group of people who decry “the State” (in the Machiavellian definition) and demand that we “starve the beast,” relegate such omnipotent abilities and powers to it. When the Federal Leviathan – in particular – decides on a singular goal and its collective power is focused on a singular objective, you can indeed go to the moon, power a Naval ship using a nuclear reactor, or weaponize the upper atmosphere or hide military equipment in space.

Saying all that, the real world isn’t a Marvel movie and the X-Files was a tv show. Get a grip.

Sales, there are sales. Buy things. Go ahead. Shop.

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Buy a book!

“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.