The Mar-a-lago Messiah - reverse engineering a hazardous meme (Updated: 4/29/2026)

 

Stained Legacy of the Church of MAGA, editorial cartoon, April 2, 2024 by primo Canadian cartoonist Graeme MacKay, found in his article: A Blasphemous Exploitation of Faith for Personal Gain.

"Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” Leo told a gathering at Saint Joseph Cathedral in the western city of Bamenda.

“They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found.

“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters.”

- Words of wisdom expressed by Catholic Pope Leo XIV during a recent trip to Africa... possibly in response to lunatic ravings posted against him on "Truth Social." Apparently, the Pope disagreed with Trump's decision to enter Israel's war with Iran. As did a majority of Americans.

Jesus Trump - editorial cartoon - April 14, 2026, Michael de Adder. 

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(New: 5/7/2026) "When Trump was elected president of the United States, his now infamous alt-right supporters celebrated the victory in what they considered the ‘Great Meme War’. They made Trump the object of a memetic cult of personality, exalting him as their ‘God Emperor’ for which they fought."

- This quote (sourced here) illuminates our general discussion. Obviously, the Great Meme War of 2016 never really ended. And imagine how much more effective Memetic Warfare was for the alt-right in 2024 with tech-wizard Elon Musk on board.

"Memetic warfare on the part of 4chan and r/The_Donald subreddit is widely credited with assisting Donald Trump in winning the election in an event they call 'The Great Meme War'. According to Ben Schreckinger, 'a group of anonymous keyboard commandos conquered the internet for Donald Trump—and plans to deliver Europe to the far right'."

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"Memetic is frequently used to describe digital artifacts (images, videos, jokes) that go viral online, sharing common characteristics and evolving as they are shared.

In fictional contexts, "memetic hazards" are ideas or information that, when perceived, cause significant, often dangerous, mental effects (cognitohazards).

Memetic Engineering: The deliberate design and deployment of memes to alter social discourse or achieve specific goals, such as in marketing or political campaigns."

- Via Wiki, describing the meme, a unit of cultural transmission. But, then again, there are the hazardous memes. Outside of "fictional contexts," political propaganda can weaponize hazardous memes.

The highlighted text is the central theme of this post.*

* Happily, meme warfare works both ways. Tit for tat, this for that. And, there is no better way to counteract a malignant meme than the illuminating, mental stimulation of satirical humor. It's like squeezing dirty water from a household sponge. You have to do it to get the job done, so, you can finally relax. Laughter is relaxation.

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The MAGA Messiah - editorial cartoon - 2024, Darrin Bell. "Move aside, loser."

"Nick Adams posted the image of Donald Trump as Jesus Christ.

Since moving to the United States, Adams has become a prominent Trump backer and commentator.

Adams, born Nicholas Adamopoulos, was nominated by Trump to be America's ambassador to Malaysia.

But that nomination was later withdrawn and he was named Special Presidential Envoy for American Tourism, Exceptionalism, and Values, a role that was created for him."

- While we are not told that Nick Adams created the AI-generated Trump/Christ images trending across the WWW this past week (see article), we do know that he posted a few. Moreover, Adams is employed by the present far-right regime in "a role that was created for him." And, what a mouthful that "role" is: Special Presidential Envoy for American Tourism, Exceptionalism, and Values. Sounds like something cooked up by the Wizard of Oz. Maybe it was. But, who is the wizard?

Perhaps, there is more than one silhouette behind that curtain. We now know of another (see below). As for the others, read on...

(Continued below the jump...)

Just Found: Comic Relief

 

"President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday night — hours after he'd threatened "a whole civilization will die tonight" and about 90 minutes before a deadline he set for Tehran to reach an agreement with the U.S."

Fresh from the Donnie Demento files, we have the news above regarding a suddenly deescalated war which, only moments before, may have potentially led to The End.

Talk about playing with our emotions!

Happily, we also have another satirical gem from the illustrious Jeremy Newberger, who nailed our collective angst during the very early days of this nightmare with Le Bouffon Orange. Newberger has struck again and for this we collectively applaud him. Bravo!

Question: what can be done when a man, who currently holds the highest executive office in the USA, believes that he, in fact, rules the entire world and threatens to "destroy a civilization" if it dares disobey him? (Note: link repaired.)

In bygone days he would've been discreetly plucked from public office and delivered (with little ado) to one of those quiet, hidden places all madmen go to retire (good-bye Mar-a-Lago, hello Sunny Pastures). Alas.

There might, yet, be hope. Three words currently trending: The 25th Amendment.

Disclosure, 2026

 

(Source: Pinto Creations)

Trump orders UFO files release after slamming Obama over alien comments

"The big picture: Trump's comments on Truth Social came hours after he accused former President Obama of disclosing classified information for saying aliens are "real" in a podcast last week."

After Obama says they're real, Trump orders release of government files on UFOs

"Pressed on whether he was confirming the existence of aliens in saying Obama's comments disclosed classified information, Trump continued to criticize the former president.

'I don't know if they're real or not, I can tell you he gave classified information," Trump said. "He's not supposed to be doing that. He made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information.'"

As Epstein Scandal Tightens, Trump Announces That He’s Releasing All Government Files About Alien Life 

"In short, it remains entirely unclear what other documents government agencies may still be holding on to or whether we’ll actually learn anything new.

What’s far more likely is that Trump continues to desperately try to control the narrative — as even Republicans are getting tired of his antics.

'They’ve deployed the ultimate weapon of mass distraction, but the Epstein files aren’t going away… even for aliens,' representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) tweeted."

***

Wow, just in time for the movie, there's news in the official world that here, in the United States of Anxiety, an actual UAP Disclosure is about to be enforced... by executive order!

Well, this news was all the rage the other day anyway, but, in the official world, the story has already begun to fade... and this is pretty much the case with most UFO/UAP headlines for the past 20 years. Here today, gone tomorrow. It's weird. So, just in case you missed it...

Bottom line: this, too shall pass... with no one the wiser. What we can expect: redaction... the present official term for censorship, subterfuge... and blatant attempts to withhold information. The Epstein files, the UAP files... whatever information we are given will not be all the information there is to give.

Meanwhile, I thought I might consult Posthuman Blues for some input; Mac had a knack for putting these kinds of things into perspective. 

PB, Saturday, July 26, 2008

"I pretty much saw this coming, having experienced the UFO "disclosure" song-and-dance one too many times. Questions remain, but they're not nearly as intriguing as they might have been.

The lesson? Never, ever, underestimate the power of a meme that appeals to our sense of planetary identity, because there are those who will exploit it for any number of reasons."

PB, Wednesday, September 19, 2007

"... I think exopoliticians' certainty that UFOs represent extraterrestrial intelligence is premature; perhaps a more productive approach to the controversy would entail dispensing with expansive "cover-up" allegations and focusing on the scientific unknowns posed by the phenomenon (whatever its origin).

None of this is to suggest the U.S. government is being entirely truthful about what it knows about UFOs. Clearly, secrets are being kept -- many of them for reasons only marginally connected to the UFO enigma. And while I'm sympathetic to claims of crashed ET vehicles and recovered alien bodies, I'm unaware of a single case that could be reasonably wielded as proof of alien visitation. Instead, we're faced with 60 years of unexplained activity that hints, remarkably, of some form of intelligence -- fascinating to committed students of the unknown, but decidedly less desirable to disclosure activists committed to unearthing a 'smoking gun.'"

Also see, 2 more articles from Futurism:

There’s Another Reason Flights Have Been So Messed Up Lately: UFO Sightings

FBI Agents Investigating UFOs Afraid They’re About to Be Fired by Trump

Update, March 13, 2026. Just found, an illuminating article from the Conservation:

While the US government is investigating unidentified anomalous phenomena, academic researchers studying them face stigma

"The University of Würzburg in Germany became the first Western university to officially recognize UAP as a legitimate object of academic research in 2022, when it formally added UAP investigation to its research canon. Researchers at Stockholm University and the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics in Sweden have been actively publishing peer-reviewed UAP research since 2017, most recently in Scientific Reports in October 2025.

None of these actions has produced a corresponding response from American research universities. Universities provide independent, peer-reviewed analyses that government programs structurally cannot."

The Fool's Heroic Journey (w/ Addendum )

The Fool, the unnumbered card of the Tarot deck's Major Arcanum - AI generated - by TyliJura.
Related images can be found here.

 

"the hero receives a call to adventure

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they refuse the call

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they meet an inspiring mentor

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they decide to “cross the threshold” and accept the call

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they leave their home and face obstacles, enemies, and allies

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they fail to achieve the goal

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they try again and succeed

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they come home with a reward"

 - A list of the chronological order of events present in an archetypal heroic tale compiled by Joseph Campbell for his 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces found in this Substack article. 

"The Fool is not foolish — he is brave. He reminds us to begin again with openness, to trust the journey even when we can’t see the destination, and to listen to our instincts and higher self. He is the hero before the story begins, the spark of curiosity and freedom that initiates transformation.

Whether you’re starting a new venture, moving through change, or seeking deeper wisdom, The Fool invites you to embrace the unknown with a light heart and a willing soul."

- Interpretation of The Fool of the Tarot found here.

"In Europe, the divinatory meanings of the Fool tend to be darker than in the Anglo-American world. These meanings include illusion, confusion, passive drifting, irresponsibility, and impulsive actions leading to chaos. At best, the card symbolizes radical freedom and a detachment from societal restrictions, allowing for a kind of creative genius."

- Another reading of The Fool card (Le Mat), alluding  to its negative, or inverted meaning in divination.

"And perhaps most fittingly for our reading of Tarot cards, William Blake says 'If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.' 

When dealt this card, we are given a call to adventure, the beginning of a grand new journey, or we are being shown our own silliness, the missteps that we have taken. In truth, these are the same thing, a chance to start again."

- Excerpt from an article featuring Fool archetypes from the classical tarot decks. 

For, yet, another (tarot) Fool offering on this blog, see this post.

Interestingly, the Fool is also interpreted as a "madman." Arthur E. Waite, on the other hand, refers the Fool as an alchemist, although in a derogatory way:

"The conventional explanations say that the Fool signifies the flesh, the sensitive life, and by a peculiar satire its subsidiary name was at one time the alchemist, as depicting folly at the most insensate stage." (See Sacred Texts.)

***

It will be the 12th day of Christmas when this post goes up, and the 5th day of the official New Year. Weirdly enough, at least in my experience, that official juncture - or portal - between 2025 and 2026 which we have so recently experienced has held true. For me, it's as if I walked into a different dimension of reality - and/or human experience - I had never (exactly) visited before; overwhelmingly similar to my general perspective but turned up a notch... like an increment on a dial. Then again, space-time might be (metaphorically) represented by a dial... but, possibly, in ways the Vitruvian dialers (Chapter 8)* could not have foreseen.

That being said, the image introducing the post is possibly the weirdest image I've seen in a very long while, so, naturally, I thought I'd share it!

The Fool is a Tarot image, an AI creation by the enigmatic TyliJura. You'll note by now, that many AI images seem uncannily similar in ways. In theory, the programs are developing certain synthetic archetypes - possibly a synthesis reflecting the culmination of a million bytes of information unwittingly donated by both the living and the dead artists of the world. This Fool is unexpected, however. Even if we study the Fool in the classic tarot decks, and similar figures inspired by Northern Renaissance artists, or, perhaps painter, Georges Mazilu, TyliJura's genderless Fool remains alien, dreamlike, uniquely mystical, and, yet, true to the Fool's enigmatic childlike nature. Here the Fool has been elevated to a child god.

These days, of course, just getting out of bed in the morning is a heroic deed. Then again, the real heroes may not even have a bed to sleep in. In the last analysis, we all, in our own ways, are heroes.

Happy New Year!

* Excerpt: "15. The hole being lowered through the space of Scorpio and Sagittarius, in its revolution it returns to the eighth division of Capricornus, and, by the velocity of the water, the winter hours are produced. To the best of my ability I have explained the construction and proportions of dials, so that they may be easily set up. It now remains for me to speak of machines, and the principles which govern them. These will be found in the following book, and will complete this Treatise on Architecture."

Note: Apparently, the ancient "dials" were not sundials, as much as the were water clocks based on the 12 signs of the Zodiac!

***

Well, it's only fitting to include this tune here, no? Not merely because of the song's title, but David Bowie (Jan 8, 1947 - Jan 10, 2016) was a child of January... and a hero to many of us, including Mac, who would have approved of its inclusion here. Performed in Berlin, Germany - where Bowie resided in the 1970's, and which inspired Heroes - is, possibly, his best recorded live performance of this tune.

And, there's a third reason I posted the video here.  The country in which I live and Mac resided - and, in which Bowie eventually died - is now being torn apart by a toxic regime lead by a madman - sound familiar ? - which may, in the end, lead the world into a war from which none of us will ever recover. Where are our heroes when we most need them?

***

Addendum

(Added January 30, 2026)

“I’m Pierrot, I’m Everyman. What I’m doing is Theatre and only Theatre…What you see on stage isn’t sinister, it’s pure clown. I’m using my face as a canvas and trying to paint the truth of our time on it. The white face, the baggy pants – they’re Pierrot, the eternal clown putting over the great sadness…” 

- David Bowie (1976). A quote harvested from Adam Steiner's terrific (2024) article: Tears of a Clown - David Bowie and the Infinite Melancholy of Scary Monsters.

Believe it or not, I had totally forgotten about Bowie's Pierrot and his album Scary Monsters, released in September of 1980, when I wrote this post. I loved that album, but it was strangely prescient, in that John Lennon was assassinated 3 months later in New York City, the place to which I'd shortly be transplanted. So, it was a scary time for many of us. Very much like now.

"She had an horror of rooms

She was tired, you can't hide beat

And when I looked in her eyes

They were blue but nobody home

She could've been a killer

If she didn't walk the way she do, and she do

She opened strange doors that we'd never close again.

Scary monsters, super creeps, keep me running, running scared."

- Lyrics from the title track of Scary Monsters. (A good live performance can be on YouTube.)

Inset left is Bowie in his Pierrot costume which is featured in the official video of another tune from Monsters: Ashes to Ashes, a favorite of Mac's and mine.

***

The best performing artists are those who engage with us (their audience, the anonymous spectators) on several levels: the iconic, the personal and, lastly, the subliminal. The iconic is made evident by adoring crowds and social media stats... quantified (but not qualified) by the popularity of film recordings and record sales. The personal draws us closer to the heart of our individual selves, those private muses or motivators which inspire us to create and express our own personal experiences and/or our own "performances". For some, it is here the workings of love are to be found.

Lastly, we have the subliminal level where lie the underground streams and night shining stars that lead us just a little bit further down our existential paths to a place we'd never been to before. This is where the magic lies... the mysterious and, ultimately, alchemical ingredients; the sub-rosa of the psyche or soul, if there can be such a thing. This is where we dream and are realized in dreams..  the place we generally forget upon waking.

David Bowie was one of those performers.

For more information about the Pierrot figure, who shares the same major family which includes clowns, jokers, jesters, harlequins and fools see Messy Nessy's History's Quietest Icon - The Many Faces of Pierrot.

Spielberg's "Disclosure Day"

 

"The trailer opens with the question, 'If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?' Emily Blunt is then shown doing a weather report on television before she begins to stammer and make strange, alien-like clicking sounds."

-  From the USA Today article (December 16): Steven Spielberg finally lifts curtain on mysterious new sci-fi film.

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Say what you will, but Steven Spielberg's science fiction extravaganzas are always something to look forward to, and his latest, Disclosure Day - due to be released in the summer of next year - looks like loads of fun. But, is it destined to become a blockbuster classic like Close Encounters... or E.T.?

I hope so. My only concern is that, by the summer of 2026, Americans might not find television newscasters stammering and making "strange, alien-like clicking sounds" all that remarkable. In fact, considering the sort of toxic garbage sliding out of too many mouths these days, alien-like clicking sounds might be preferable! ;-)

(NEW!) Cryptic billboard posters appear for Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure.’

The Altered States of Halloween

(Source: CowGow AI World.  Another nice one.)

Halloween may come but once a year for some of us, but, for the rest of us, a subtle sense of horror runs through our daily lives like background noise; the essence of Halloween is on our menu 365 days a year.

But, this is not always a bad thing. Think of the Essence of Halloween as an aerosol that comes in a can, a sort of air freshener. But, it's odor is not one of dead mammalian flesh as much as it the smell of dying leaves and burning candles in the cool night air. It has hints of sugar & spices mixed with church incense and the odd scent of a funeral parlor.

Halloween then bleeds into the Day of the Dead. Everyone knows, at least, one of those people. But, none of us can comprehend that most altered state of all... death itself.

And, so, we threw a party! 👻

Halloween, which likely originated from the old Celtic holiday of Samhain , is the culmination of a year of spookiness we can finally give a name to. "Oh, that explains it, it's officially Halloween!" Witches, demons, gremlins, ghouls, phantoms, zombies, psychopaths, haunted houses, memes of death, magic, fascination & horror - officially have free reign on this day... provided there is that certain element of humor... or satire. The irony of death is all around us. Let's dance!

For instance, my day was considerably brightened recently by a .gif starring the one and only Death Fairy (inset right), a wonderful, satirical character found here. Invented by the artist, Kiszkiloszki, the Death Fairy is quite possibly the best Halloween character ever!

But, all this talk of apparitions, fortune-telling, hallucinations, premonitions, trances, spell-casting and dreams of the living dead can be interpreted as being elements of our collective unconsciousness which have recently fallen under more serious scientific scrutiny: the altered states of consciousness (ACS).

"Although classical psychoanalysis has tended to regard altered states of consciousness (ASCs) as symptoms of regressive states, other schools of thought, such as Jungian, humanistic, and transpersonal psychology, regard them as higher states of consciousness and, often, as indicative of a more profound level of personal and spiritual evolution."

- A quote sourced from the APA Dictionary entry for altered state of consciousness.

"According to the Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, excessive dancing, meditation, and mind-altering plants were used in ancient civilizations to modulate the activity of the mind. Terence McKenna, an American ethnobotanist, even thought that the use of psychedelic mushrooms had led to the 'evolution of human language and symbol use.'

The  production and use of substances that alter perception, change consciousness, and create illusion and hallucination seems to be embedded throughout the natural world, as a thread somehow woven into the fabric of life itself,' writes Dr Peter Brace from Swinburne University."

- Via the article: Altered states of consciousness: the elusiveness of the mind. 

“I’m being greeted by these beings, they’rle not human but they’re oddly familiar. I know them as if they are family. They’re telling me how happy they are to see me, and that I’ve found this technology to communicate with them again.”

“Yesterday, I finally broke through and met a male and female entity in the place where we exist before birth, and after death. I was in complete shock about what happened, it seemed so real, and it honestly felt like a very familiar place. They were welcoming me and it felt like I was home.”

- Quotes from participants in a DMT study via the Big Think article: “I’ve been here before”: DMT study explores a strange memory phenomenon.

DMT is a chemical naturally found in numerous plants and some mammals, including humans. It is the hallucinogenic ingredient in Ayahuasca.

I was particularly impressed by the line: "They’re telling me how happy they are to see me, and that I’ve found this technology to communicate with them again.” Technology is an odd word to describe what is essentially the effects of a plant product.

As it happens, humans have been deliberately attempting to alter and enhance their conscious states - for quite some time... somewhere around 30,000 years, if not more! While psychotropic plants have often played a part in this process, the true altered state is not dependent upon them. Alcohol (another plant product) consumption, meditation, orgasm, music, dancing, ceremonial rituals, lucid dreaming - and, to this I add, the processes used to create many forms of art - are among the many activities that may produce an altered state. *

(Inset left above is an example of the Geometry of DMT.)

(More below the jump...)

Cause for Pause: the Rot at the Core

Hitler - oil painting - 1934, Victor Brauner.

"Each painting that I make is projected from the deepest sources of my anxiety..."

- Romanian-French Surrealist artist, Victor Brauner, (1903-1966). Although not always as well-known in the States as he was in Europe, recognition of his importance in Surrealism is more evident now than it was when I first featured him in an old TD post, The Magic of Art & The Art of Magic. In the post I included a link to the Hitler image (above), referring to it as "Brauner's voodoo doll." Nowadays I would use the word Vodou, but I would still interpret it the same. I imagine André Breton did, too, when he added it to his eccentric art collection. (Brauner's haunting portrait of Breton) Hitler would be dead 11 years later... No, not soon enough for an authentic correlation, but, in this case, it's the thought (and the passion) that counts. From this excellent online source we have:

" One of the most significant symbolic aspects of voodoo dolls is their role as a conduit for energy and intention. In many traditions, the doll is believed to act as a vessel, allowing the practitioner to channel their desires, whether for healing, protection, or even retribution, into the physical form of the doll."

But, can weaponized art fulfill the requirements of aesthetic beauty? Apparently, it depends upon who you ask. For some members of the Young Republican National Federation here in the States, Hitler had an "aesthetic." (See quotes below.)

'I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

"Peter Giunta, who at the time was chair of the same organization, wrote in a message sent in June that 'everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber.'

Giunta was referring to an upcoming vote o@n whether he should become chair of the Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s 15,000-member political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40 years old.

'Im going to create some of the greatest physiological torture methods known to man. We only want true believers,' he continued.

'Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic,' Joe Maligno, who previously identified himself as the general counsel for the New York State Young Republicans, wrote back.

'I’m ready to watch people burn now,' Annie Kaykaty, New York’s national committee member, said."

For most of us, this latest Republican gaff is old news. But, I must admit, of all the nightmares presented to us in the past year, this one made my blood run cold. While it's possible that the words may have been taken out of context, the message is clear. The "Hitler aesthetic" is the cherry on this shit-sundae. I can find no element of grace or beauty in Hitler's pathological hate tale.

What is particularly scary is that most of the members quoted actually worked for the government, up to and including a Senator!

Yes, this chat was immediately condemned by the Republican base, but it was too late to get the cat back into the bag. The rot at the MAGA core was exposed.

Bravo, Politico, this story makes for a "charming" Halloween horror vignette!

It is, after all, the witching season; Halloween is arriving soon, along with the Day when the Dead shall rise. But, while Halloween is a great time for confronting ones deepest fears, in the modern world, we do so almost as a form of play. The vintage animation below is an example of this. Created by Disney studios in the late 1920s, Skeleton Dance was the first of the Silly Symphonies. Ah, maybe this fits the "Hitler aesthetic"...

... along with another seasonal title, Mel Brook's Springtime for Hitler.

(Source: the Laughing Place.)

***

UPDATE - October 18, 2025

LIVE - NO KINGS Protests, USA

PBS - Live coverage in DC

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CNBC-TV 18 Live Nationwide Coverage

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The Daily Discourse - Live National Coverage

⭐ NEW!!!

When That Man is Dead & Gone

Here's a tune you might enjoy... written by Irving Berlin in 1941 as an anti-Hitler anthem and performed by the modern band, Lizzy & the Triggermen - it has suddenly achieved new popularity.

File under: Ways in Which Art Removes Tyrants.

They Live (Updated 11/5/2025)

 

"Nada retrieves one of the boxes from the church and takes a pair of sunglasses from it, concealing the box in a trash pile. He finds out that they make the world appear monochrome and reveal subliminal messages in the media to consume and conform. They also disclose that many people are ghoulish, bug-eyed aliens hiding under human façades."

- Via the Wiki article for They Live, a sci-fi film from 1988 directed by John Carpenter, a master of the horror genre. Interestingly, it was written in response to Ronald Reagan, the US president at the time. The article goes on to say:

"...Carpenter decided to use the pseudonym "Frank Armitage", an allusion to one of the filmmaker's favorite writers, H. P. Lovecraft (Henry Armitage is a character in Lovecraft's Dunwich Horror) Carpenter has always felt a close kinship with Lovecraft's worldview, and according to the director "Lovecraft wrote about the hidden world, the 'world ally'. His stories were about gods who are repressed, who were once on Earth and are now coming back. The world underneath has a great deal to do with They Live."

And, so it does. But, John Carpenter is no smug evangelist and there's an element of high camp present in They Live which prevents it from being taken too morbidly, thereby taking the fatal sting from it's central motif: the horror of losing control over ones autonomy, ones own anatomy and existence, while relinquishing all existential freedom to an alien foe, an unrelenting monster whose agenda is to destroy the world upon which you and your loved ones must exist. Carpenter foresaw the immediate future.

Can't beat that for an introduction to the witching season... although discussions of evil technocracies also has its sinister appeal.

Stay tuned for more Halloween merriment! ;-)

(For more They Live and numerous other cool clips visit the YouTube channel, Fonoptikon.)

NEW! (11/5/2025)

Just found: a vintage clip from the YouTube channel Mind Matters Most.

The mid-20th century brought young television viewers in the States a number of science fictional treats, but shows like the Twilight Zone - hosted by the darkly debonair Rod Sirling - and it's competitor, Outer Limits, represented a more sophisticated, existentialist World of the Weird that influenced its viewers in a more subliminal way... possibly opening the door for further experimentation regarding the altered states that would follow soon thereafter. There was always a kind of moral to these fantastical stories, very evident in the little vignette above... very evident, and very prescient! 🦉👻💀

Vale to an Extraordinary Scientist, Jane Goodall

The cover of Jane Goodall's The Book of Hope.

"Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to free them."

- In Tibetan Buddhism, the first vow of the enlightened Bodhisattva.

"Sometimes people would ask her, which do you like better, chimps or people? She'd say well, it depends.

'Chimps are so like us," Goodall said, "that I like some people much more than some chimps and some chimps much more than some people.'"

- Via the NPR's tribute to Jane Goodall who passed away October 1st.

"Instead, let's assume for adventure's sake that we're sharing the planet with a flesh-and-blood offshoot of the human species. As I've tried to demonstrate, the prospect isn't as absurd as it initially seems; indeed, I expect it will seem much less so when we've learned more about our world and our relatively brief tenure here. (It bears mention that eminent primatologist Jane Goodall has defended the scientific search for "Bigfoot," a cryptohominid commonly described as enormous. Assuming a gigantic and purportedly foul-smelling primate can successfully lay low, it may be substantially easier for an intelligent technical society, with a tested capacity for stealth and a full repertoire of disinformation tricks, to dodge our radar.)"

- Mac Tonnies, from a Posthuman Blues post from March 31, 2006. In it, he begins to describe his Cryptoterrestrial Hypothesis in its infancy, citing Jane Goodall as one of his influences.

***

I was saddened when I came upon the news that Jane Goodall had slipped the mortal coil yesterday. If anyone was influential in establishing the truth regarding the sentience of animals in the 20th Century, surely it was she. At a time when many scientists were still on the fence about the true nature of animal cognizance, Goodall proved that primates could invent and use simple tools... a game-changer that totally blew away all preexisting theories regarding animal behavior, and opened the door for new definitions of the word "sentience." Interestingly, the "new" definitions mirrored observations of philosophers from an earlier century:

"In the 17th century Thomas Tryon, a self-identified Pythagorean, raised the issue of non-human suffering. Soon thereafter, many philosophers used the anatomical discoveries of the Enlightenment as a reason to include animals in what philosophers call "sympatheia," the principle of who or what deserves sympathy."

When I study Jane Goodall's uniquely beautiful face, it really appears to me as if she was illuminated from within, with the unspoiled grace of a true Bodhisattva. I don't think I'm imagining things.

Midnight Update!

I spent some time tonight trying to find the perfect video of Dame Goodall to post here, and I finally found it. Sadly, it's too long to view here, but, Jane Goodall's First Time on the Subway is must-see, in part or whole.

No, she doesn't come across as a Bodhisattva as much as she does a charmer; an artist's scientist with a child's curious nature, a cat's amazing ability to always land on its feet, and a mind like a steel trap! Then again, maybe that does describe the nature of a Bodhisattva. 🏵️

"Illumined Black" Back in Print (updated: 9/27)

 

Wormhole - photograph of a local KC, MO sculpture - 2000, Mac Tonnies.

"What does the mind experience when severed from the body?

What are the ultimate limits of artistic expression in a post-human age?

These intriguing questions and more are answered in Mac Tonnies' macabre, mind-expanding collection of science-fiction short stories... 

Originally published in 1995, Illumined Black was a sensation among the science-fiction community. Mac Tonnies was a radical new voice in the genre, and his storytelling — combining JG Ballard, Philip K Dick, and internet-age verve — was a breath of fresh air"

This new Solar Press edition of Illumined Black greatly expands on the long out-of-print first-edition, containing both the original 9 story 'Illumined Black' collection, and 9 new stories collected from magazines, ezines, and the Mac Tonnies archive — including 'One-Hundred Years,' Mac's apocalyptic magnum opus, originally published in Flurb #3 (edited by cyberpunk godfather Rudy Rucker)."

- Several quotes from the Solar Press "Illuminated Black" page announcing its new edition of what was the first publication of Mac's fiction. (The original edition is inset left, above, and is discussed in this post.) Mac was all of 20 years old at the time, but, already his aesthetic sentience was boiling over with new forms.

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Black is back!

Think of it as a belated gift for Mac's 50th birthday, projected forward in time: the republication of Illumined Black in a new package (inset right).

Aesthetically, I feel that Mac would've preferred one of his own illuminations gracing it's cover... like his photograph "Wormhole" circa 2000, (cropped and rotated). But, well, I was not in the loop on this one.

Regardless, this is good news, and long overdue! The addition of new material is a special treat. My thanks go out to all involved, and, as ever, to Dana Tonnies, who enabled the news to appear here.

(More good news below the jump)

50 Years Ago Today...

Credit: Space Universe by Digital Dreamscape.

Happy Birthday to Mac in the Multiverse!

Mac would've turned 50 today; a sobering thought for myself and, I suspect, for those who knew him. But, I think, turning 50 would not have been as big of a deal for Mac. For one thing, I believe he'd remain eternally youthful at heart. I also imagine he'd possibly be a crypto currency multi-millionaire by now. And, that would be a good thing, but, I have my doubts about how comfortable he'd feel living in the present political climate in the country in which he was born. All that comes to my mind is how much he enjoyed visiting Paul Kimball in Nova Scotia.

He loved Nova Scotia.

About today's AI video, well, it's a cool, ancient-future kind of thing with plenty of magnificently designed spaceships. I know Mac would appreciate the spaceships. What got me is the frame they chose to present the video. It isn't merely a weirdly attractive image, it's Golden.*

Would Mac love AI? I wonder. (My guess is that he'd love the videos for sure and might want to create his own. For more spacecraft from Digital Dreamscape try this Stargate-themed offering.)

Below are some links for further entertainment. It seems, in spite of the "present political climate" science is flourishing. So, if science (and art) are flourishing, Mac would probably assume things weren't too bad... especially if he was a multi-millionaire! ;-)

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Photos show the cosmic calling of extraterrestrial enthusiasts at Indonesia’s UFO Festival

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New Research Finds That ChatGPT Secretly Has a Deep Anti-Human Bias

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How far will AI go to defend its own survival?

"Recent safety tests show some AI models are capable of sabotaging commands or even resorting to blackmail to avoid being turned off or replaced."

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The ‘dead internet theory’ makes eerie claims about an AI-run web. The truth is more sinister

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Scientists discover new type of life form living in the human body

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"Third state" of existence between life and death confirmed by scientists

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A 'Third State' Exists Between Life and Death—And That Suggests Your Cells Are Conscious, Some Scientists Say

“But the emergence of new multicellular life-forms from the cells of a dead organism introduces a ‘third state’ that lies beyond the traditional boundaries of life and death.”

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* In other words, if ever an image needed a Phi-shell this would be it. See the Golden Meme footnote in Clouds, Time & Spiraling Planes.

AI Alchemy

 

The cicadas are in full swing today. At least, the metallic drone-like sound is similar. However, last night, I noticed a weird, overly large green bug outside on the cement wall of the motel - a kind of alien grasshopper - which was weird enough to be an AI confection. I have just learned via Google, however, that the katydid makes shorter sounds, not the long, extended pneumatic-drilling whine of what is the annual NM cicada I am currently hearing.

Incidentally, I learned all of the above in about 3 minutes. Of course, you realize this would not have been possible 30 years ago (in the century I was born). I wonder if anyone has charted the effects of such rapid-fire information gathering on human life, intellect and consciousness... and, cumulatively, what we can refer to as the Collective, that is: all species of intelligence and consciousness, which we've only begun to acknowledge.

Moving right along, we arrive at another broad topic, alchemy, and why the "chemical" constituents of the universe behave like they do. Hermetically, this is the fool's journey which leads to wisdom. Does this apply to the example of AI Alchemy above with all its digitally-enhanced minerals undergoing contrived chemical reactions? Well, yes and no. But, who cares? It's eye-candy, addictive, and it's at one's fingertips... thanks to AI artist/alchemists over at Vimora ASMR.

(Note: Ah, but it's possible to do so much more with labradorite!)

Interestingly, this video was given a warning label: "Altered or synthetic content. Sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated." Apparently, this was necessary because enough people were assuming it was real. I've been mistaken myself with a few AI videos and think warning labels are a good idea.

Meanwhile, the aptly named Dog Days of summer are drifting by again in the angst-ridden, hot August winds. But, although this is never a good thing - and this year it's potentially Ground Zero - we have one reason to party: it's time for Mac's 2025 birthday celebration!

See you then.

Related links:

This just found, another, cool alchemical video by AIDITOR: Virtual Lab Alchemy - The Complete Elemental Experiments.

Scientists Baffled by "Alien Mineral" That Acts in a Weird Way When Heated Up