Those of you who were reading my substack know about Icebox Hash. This entry may not actually be limited to the previous week as I have quite a backlog from the period in which I was creating this website rather than writing. And I fear it may be a more eclectic collection than usual, but here we go.
Not-so-National Parks – You probably remember for earlier this year as part of an executive order flurry that Lord Dampnut ordered that all plaques, informational postings, etc. throughout our fabulous National Park system be reviewed and changed if they included any “woke” or DEI language. Like, you know, historical facts that they didn’t like. Yuck. A couple of weeks ago they also decided to massively raise the price of admission for foreign visitors – in some cases to over $100. Because why would we want to show off some of our greatest attractions or encourage tourism? The latest stupidity in the Parks enshittification is the altering of the calendar of fee-free days. As you might expect, that calendar – the days you could visit the parks for free – included all Federal holidays, thereby encouraging you to do your patriotic duty. You can guess which days they removed from the calendar: MLK Jr day and Juneteenth. Anti-woke? Try racist. And to add insult to injury, they added Trump’s birthday. Ugh.
A font of stupidity – Speaking of the war on woke, Little Marco just ordered State to go back to Times New Roman as the standard font for all publications. I know, what? State switched to Calibri in 2023 – long overdue considering even glacially adaptive Microsoft switched in 2006 – because sans serif typefaces are easier to read for people with disabilities like low vision and dyslexia, and for people who use assistive technologies. So now DEI includes disabilities. But there are rationales beyond discrimination. The first is that Times New Roman better reflects the president’s vision of classical style for Washington. Talk about sucking up. Second, Rubio said that it never should have been done because it was a waste of money. But spending the money to undo it isn’t. Schmuck. And it’s not like he has anything else on his plate.
Officially worse – Civicus just announced its 2025 ratings and guess who got downgraded? Our global rating on civic freedoms went from “narrowed” to “obstructed”. As in, those freedoms aren’t just being restricted (which is alarming enough for the country that is supposed to be the beacon of democracy) but actively blocked. Here is a terrifying summation of all the things that led to this downgrade, and why it matters. I point this out so that when we try to whistle our way past this fascist graveyard we can remember that the people sounding the alarm are not making it up. Our descent into despotic rule is intentional, provable and accelerating. Not only is it not in our imaginations, it is getting worse by the day. Thanks, Donny Boy.
DEI Scouting – From the world turned upside down file, the Scouts are now too woke. I will give you a moment to get your head around that and prepare yourself for some Pete Hegseth insanity. Excerpts from a draft memo to Congress proposing that the Pentagon sever its 100 year old relationship with Scouting: an organization designed to “attack boy-friendly spaces”; they foster “gender confusion”; they no longer “support the future of American boys”; and my favorite, they have strayed from their mission to “cultivate masculine values”. So Pete wants to stop supporting them. And this support is not symbolic. The military has provided massive support to the Jamboree, a huge – thousands of scouts gathering for ten days – event that happens only every three or four years. By all accounts this has been a great thing, basically making the event possible, a training exercise for the troops and a valuable recruiting tool. Oh and this support is required by Congress. The exception is the Secretary of Defense can withhold the support if providing it would be “detrimental to national security”, in this case according to Hegseth because it would divert resources from, wait for it, border operations. The military has also hosted and supported Scout troops all over the world on bases, providing all too rare support for military families. The Scouts, for better or worse, are also a huge part of the military’s continuity of leadership: like 20% of attendees of the service academies are Eagle Scouts. I have not always been a supporter of the Scouts, but this is so obviously a good-all-around win-win relationship it really is a shame to end it. How much you wanna bet that somewhere in Hegseth’s past there is a bad experience – got kicked out of the local troop or got his ass kicked by a guy in a neckerchief – and this is a chance to get even? Such a shitbag.
Trump’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day – Not even this master of delusion can not sting from his Thursday.
- His deeply desired and personally advocated redistricting in Indiana got clobbered – by Republicans
- DOJ failed – again! – to secure a grand jury indictment of Leticia James. ConDon’s revenge tour isn’t going so well. Who’s the ham sandwich, now?
- Kristi Noem got absolutely rocked in her visit to Congress. I mean just destroyed. There is an abundance of video available including multiple calls for her resignation, but I particularly enjoyed Seth Maganizer’s calm, systematic shaming. It was so bad that if she didn’t so richly deserve it one could almost feel bad for her.
- 20 House republicans crossed the aisle to vote against the attempt to deny union rights to federal workers. This one checks multiple boxes: yay for unions!; Speaker Johnson was humiliated; it shows signs of continued cracks in Trump’s control; and it was an actual win for people who deserved it.
- Miami elected a Democrat for mayor for the first time in 30 years. Not a direct blow to Trumper perhaps, but more signs of people coming to their senses and you know it pissed him off.
- Kilmar Abrego Garcia was released. First of all – hot damn and finally!! Another indirect blow, but as this case has become a kind of bellwether for the legality of the increasingly heinous abuse of the law surrounding immigration, it carries some real weight.
- An AP poll had nothing but bad news. His favorite talking point of late – the A+++++ economy has a record setting 31% approval and the only time his job approval numbers have been lower was in the wake of January 6. Yikes. And for a guy who thinks any pool that doesn’t love him is fake, he sure does pay a lot of attention to them. Feeling a little put upon there, Donny? Toddler-in-Chief.
In reference to that last entry – a potentially misguided attempt to end on a “positive” note – I do occasionally fear a dangerous swelling of my schadenfreude regarding these people taking a beating. It can feel a little hypocritical to revel in their pain while simultaneously condemning them for doing that very thing. But when I remember that they are actively, intentionally committing crimes of the worst stripe – literally killing people in the process – and doing what may prove irreparable harm to our country and society, I get over that feeling. Fuck ‘em. Thanks for reading. Next Saturday I’ll do a tasty charcuterie of good news instead of Hash.