Although I do not always comment on breaking news, that news is on my mind and these last two days it has just been too awful to ignore, while to write about it just makes me feel even worse.
I am talking about the terrible succession of events. First we had the shooting at Brown University, then we had the horrific massacre of Jews celebrating Hanukkah in Australia, and then we had the brutal murder of Rob and Michele Reiner in their home, allegedly by their son.
And if all that wasn’t bad enough, we have Trump positively gloating over the deaths of the Reiners. The depths of sociopathology to which that man can sink never cease to amaze me.
So take this post as an open thread, to comment on what you will.
Rachel Maddow: “Trump learns Politics 101: Do unpopular things, become unpopular, lose political power”
I’m not sure if this makes you feel any better, but at least the laws were repealed.
https://boingboing.net/2025/12/16/america-had-laws-banning-ugly-people-from-public-until-1974.html
This sounds like taunting Trump:
“The Americans with Disabilities Act followed in 1990, finally making such laws impossible to resurrect.”
Since before Trump’s election, I’ve more and more distracted myself from daily horrors (without ignoring them) by diving back into basic physics; topics in classical mechanics, classical electromagnetism, special relativity, quantum mechanics. It’s like watching long-beloved movies, or listening to musical favourites. An anchor to things which are solid and beautiful, yes, but also an opportunity to achieve greater depth of understanding. And it takes a fair chunk of time which I might otherwise spend doomscrolling!
Re. Trump’s gloating:
I am going to use the term Trump Derangement Syndrome, with qualifiers to make it clear that I’m not using it in the way Orange Fuckhead intended. Thanks Orange Fuckhead! I’d been looking for an appropriate phrase to describe maggot madness.
Trump Derangement Syndrome (n): a severe form of derangement. Named after the US’s criminal president. Historically, there was an epidemic of Trump Derangement Syndrome during the criminal president’s terms.
It is very sad that we have lost Rob and his wife, but I think Rob would have loved that his death was the trigger for the Blob in the Oval to reveal so clearly just how horrible it is. It was as if it was the final argument between Archie Bunker and Meathead. It is true that some people saw Archie as the hero, but the majority then, and the greater majority now, realize that Archie was always the butt of the jokes.
Re. the Bondi Beach massacre:
Well done to the shooters for cementing their legacy as murderers of innocents. I understand the feelings of anger and impotence when viewing what is happening in Gaza. But now you have achieved something: the murder of an innocent 10 year old girl on the other side of the world. Congratulations! No doubt Netanyahoo will see that and realise he’s been too harsh on Gaza, say sorry, get his army to lay off, and submit to the ICC for justice. And everyone will understand that it was he that drove you to fighting murder with murder, and no political capital will be made of it at all.
🙁
I would however like to bring readers’ attention to two acts of selfless heroism.
Firstly, I suspect the shooters’ original plan was to become bombers rather than shooters, but changed their plan after Boris and Sofia Gurman recognised the Islamic State flag in the shooters’ car windscreen and confronted them. Boris, 69, even disarmed one of the gunmen. The two heroes were shot dead for their troubles, but the cat was out of the bag and the fuckers decided to go on a murderous shooting spree instead, leaving their explosive devices behind.
Secondly, Ahmed al Ahmed (43, he runs a fruit shop), did actually disarm one of the gunmen. He was subsequently shot, but lived to tell the tale. The footage of him stripping the gun off the gunman is absolutely the bravest thing I have ever seen; he is an inspiration. There is no doubt that he saved lives there. So far a GoFundMe page for him has raised well over a million dollars, and he will never be permitted to buy his own drinks again.
Both events were filmed and you can view them at the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/16/boris-and-sofia-gurman-identified-as-couple-who-lost-lives-trying-to-stop-bondi-gunmen-as-attack-began-ntwnfb
I am told one of the symptoms of frontal lobe dementia is reduced inhibitions. It would track with his awful response to the double murder as well as the yo-yo tariffs. He has always been a narcissistic POS but now he is even worse.
“Ahmed Al Ahmed” should become a shorthand for selfless bravery.
“Holy shit did you see that guy run into that burning building and drag those people out? That was some Ahmed Al Ahmed shit right there.”