According to George Orwell, whom I am inclined to regard as close enough:

Learned controversies, reverberating for years on end in American magazines, have not even been able to determine whether or not Fascism is a form of capitalism. But still, when we apply the term ‘Fascism’ to Germany or Japan or Mussolini’s Italy, we know broadly what we mean.

Conservatives have asked one big question since Jan. 20, 2021: “So … who’s actually running the country?” Theories abound, including Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice, or Barack Obama wearing Susan Rice as a skinsuit. Due to the administration’s utter incompetence, I don’t see any single person running the show, but an infighting cabal propping up Biden’s husk to show internal dominance. Looking at the wreckage, I figured no one was in charge.

I’ve finally settled on a new paradigm: It’s not a Biden Presidency, but a Biden Regency.

Biden is surrounded with longtime D.C. power players, such as Ron Klain, Susan Rice, Anita Dunn, John Podesta, Gene Sperling – a veritable “who’s who” of Beltway knife fights and insider skullduggery. Throughout their long careers, they’ve never sought credit or voter approval. Just power.

Michael Goodwin has a good article up in The New York Post in which he discusses the increasingly dangerous state of world affairs in response to weak American leadership.  He thinks the Democratic Party has real problems with its leadership — he views Biden and Harris as poor leaders, which is difficult to argue with. But he also discusses other problems of the Democratic Party concerning the upcoming midterm elections:

A crucial run-up to elections is the battle to set the terms of the debate. Poll after poll shows that inflation, the economy, crime and immigration are at the top of most voters’ lists.

Has anyone on Ricochet heard anything further about the investigation into the person who leaked Alito’s draft opinion in Dobbs?

How close are we to world war, post the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline? If that was done by Russia, was it not, in essence, an attack on NATO? Done in NATO territorial waters?

Question:

Kori Schake of AEI was interviewed on the most recent Ricochet flagship podcast.  She questioned the assertion that most Americans do not want to put boots on ground in Ukraine.  Conversation followed in the comments on that podcast, as well as on a Jon Gabriel thread No US Troops in Ukraine, Thank You Very Much, and we conducted a well-attended poll (members-only link) here at Ricochet, asking US Citizens only.

Two gay men who both attended law school filed a legal complaint against the City of New York arguing that not having access to a woman's reproductive potential is a form of discrimination, and that they are entitled to have the City pay for a "surrogate".https://t.co/bEvEGlyoV4 pic.twitter.com/tq8pD8UrNc

— Women's Voices (@WomenReadWomen) October 1, 2022

The article speaks for itself. And to think this isn’t even rock bottom yet. The slippery slope goes all the way down to hell. The idea that less religion would mean more rationality and science has been blown to smithereens.

Today I am disposing of my Father’s drill. There is nothing special or unique about it, but it has been around almost as long as I have, with a lot less complaining. I hate to see it go.

It reminds me of my Dad, my childhood, the ranch where I spent my earliest years, and a world that was about to swiftly change in unexpected ways.

Dad bought it sometime between 1967 and 1975. That was after my Grandpa died and before the ranch was sold. My age was in the single digits. I wasn’t there for the purchase, but I distinctly remember seeing the drill for the first time in the tool shed. The tool shed was built from adobe blocks, with clapboard siding and covered by a tin roof. Half of it was partitioned off for Grandma’s chickens.