Parthian Shot

No shame to reach out for help when you need it. Comforting to know our leaders are big enough to meet in dark alleys and be told what they need to hear from people who know a lot more than they do. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

When you realize this is actually what the god of these people wants to happen, the path to your conversion to atheism will be much easier. LETHALITY!—it's really all the regime has to offer. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

Another in our series of short, bitter bonus bits where people you may recognize say what they mean instead of what they want you to think. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

Why is this Al-generated war policy debate so much more interesting than all the tired old completely discredited eggspurts telling you Trump has totally saved the day in spite of being a horrible person? In part it is because the brazen artificiality does not get in the way of the fun stuff—the conjectural cotton candy synthesized into deeply troubling plausibility. And in a pretty fair and balan...

Earlier today I posted the text of this podcast as a note, and I decided it might be useful to speak it for those who cannot or will not read. As I say in the note and podcast: “If the state does not fear the people, the state will do anything to the people that it wants.” That raises many questions, and inspires answers that may not always be reassuring. But liberty is often not reassuring and co...

Happy Trump Hump! Trump makes an audacious announcement and fixes the Jesus problem! Just being liberated from ever having to say the words “Merry Christmas” ever again is a real blessing, huh? Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

Fearless Leader explains the boat thing to all of you who clearly do not understand how government works. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

Another in a series of compassionate clarifiers. It is the least we can do. Fearless leader explains the Holocaust and other things he says people just don't understand. 1933 is already here. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

PolClar provides an exciting and encouraging update in the ongoing effort to clarify the political intentions of Fearless Leader. For those who feel it is way past time for the White House to put its cards on the table, so the American people know what is going on, this should be very helpful. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

Reflections on the failure to educate the people. Rusty old democratic republics barely run just anyway, but they have no chance to get the people anywhere good, when the nation keeps saying "good luck" getting the job you are not educated to do, and oh by the way the USA is all about taking care of number 1—and screw everybody else. Yeah, that crap sounds brave to greedy simpletons, but it does n...

Nobody reads or writes poetry anymore, and when they do, they shouldn’t. So there is always risk in doing things you shouldn’t. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

This statement from Fearless Creeper is I agree a little short for a podcast, so I am not calling it that. Let us call it an audio bubble-gum wrapper. Smells very pink. Very sweet. The message is so deliciously simple, don’t you think? In my experience, as I have diligently tried to show you all, when FC can be gotten away from the political or game-show stage, and when he feels encouraged by kind...

Thoughts on privilege and storms and risks when it goes floodin' down in Texas. Stories always have more to 'em, huh? Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

The kind of anti-fascist schlepping in Trump's big, beautiful parade was at least a little encouraging, except what with the world rapidly descending into chaos and war, maybe it woulda been better to look like you could at least march down the street in step. Or you know, maybe just not do the parade. Yeah. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

Fearless leader tells you what the idea really is. I tell you what your level of moral outrage oughta be, but you're probably too exhausted to do anymore oughta-shoulda's. A boy and his tank send their regards. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

While I do not drink anymore, I appreciate some good advice about beverages. It’s getting really hot. And crushing some ice sounds like a really good plan. Good luck out there. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

So sad, right, when good friends break up. Poor Elon. His little world is crumbling all around him. And DT is being so mean to him. But I think somewhere in all this maybe not so completely real melodrama is a lot of truth. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

When things don't go so great for you, when you get the very lamest Tarot card of all—which is not even Death—it is "Failure", what do you do? I don't know. Why are you bothering me about it? Oh right. I read Tarot cards. Yep, I do. Guess you'd better listen to the podcast. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

Why doesn't the enormous spew of words on Substack and all over social media actually change anything politically? The world doesn't work like that. People want soma, not solutions. And you know, they can't even agree about the problems that need solving. But beyond all that, I will tell you something else Ambrose Bierce said and we'll have another visit from that really remarkable world leader pe...

Reflections on the role of and addiction to fantasy in our lives. We may be strongly pulled at times like this in the direction of unreality, where better happier worlds may be found. But is that where we need to be? Well, unless you're really into pain and El Salvador, maybe so. Because that plate of cold turkey with the red pill cherry can be a lot to take in, especially if you feel obliged to d...

After Stephen Miller said some crazy shit last week, Gandalf rolled a joint of Sauronic Palantir and got some folks to confess what we all know is the truth. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

On the morality of synaptical reserve versus launching your ambush on your own vanity. The reason the world refuses to change is because you do. That, unfortunately, does not make you a bad person. It makes you perfectly normal. Overwhelmingly so. OK. Go back to sleep. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe

Some thoughts on the operational integrity of "constitution", as the Founders and some 18th-century political philosophers thought about that idea. Just having a constitution is not good enough. It has to be both respected as a document with continuing relevance to the people, and it has to have real power to constrain and coerce even the bad presidents and others to obey its limitations of their...

There is a Tarot card that describes your (and our) current dilemma. It is a card about desperately being afraid to overthrow oppressive regimes and circumstances, because who knows what that will cost and what that will bring? As I will explain to you, there is a mechanism at work that will liberate you from this terrible moral tension, no matter what you want. You may not love the remedy of cour...

Wherein I come at the problem of aggressive stupidity installed as the arbiter of excellence from a number of perspectives. This is more a pie in the face than a critical rebuke. Well, there is a rebuke in the pie too of course. Get full access to Parthian Shot at parthianshot.substack.com/subscribe