November 14, 2024

You’re a Wizard, Harry

Sorry for the extended silence, all. Needed some time to rest and regroup, for somewhat obvious reasons, I think. But last night, a friend of mine on Facebook reposted a bit by Tawny Fritz that compared our current times and our reactions to it to a D&D campaign:

We have now begun the most important D&D Campaign of our entire lives. Your first action is to create your character. Here are the options:

• Fighter/Barbarian
• Cleric/Healer
• Bard
• Rogue
• Tank
• Druid
• Wizard
• Rangers

FIGHTERS: Your role now is to take on a public persona of a fighter. You’re going to be fierce. And you’re going to need your party.

HEALERS: Everything from a cleric to a Paladin is important in these times. You will be waiting in the wings to heal the fighters, tanks, and rogues. Whether you work in a hospital or a psychiatrist office or you’re just a friend who always seems to have the right words, your role is patch up wounds both physical and emotional.

BARDS: You are important too! Musicians and artists not only heal others, they also lend voices to the vulnerable and fight the powers that be with messages of rage and hope. You are a mighty class and we’d be lost without you.

ROGUES: Nobody will even know you’re there. You work in places nobody would expect a D&D party member to be, and you listen. You gather information and you quietly resist thru sabotage.

TANK: You defend the vulnerable by becoming a wall between aggressors and your party in the physical world or you draw aggro online by speaking up publicly and ferociously, pulling attention away from the others and onto yourself, because you have a high armor class.

DRUID: You may not seem to be in the actual fight, but I’m guessing you’re stashing seeds somewhere like some squirrel. You’re going to be needed when animals need sanctuary and the plants need tending. Those animals and plants are what feed us, heal us, help us grow, so your job is just as important as the Tanks and the Healers.

WIZARD: Keeper of knowledge. It’s critical that you protect our histories and use that information to not only educate others but fight against aggressors with wisdom.

RANGERS: Well, Alt National Park Service obviously lmao

Choose your class and your role carefully and don’t be afraid to evolve into another one if you feel yourself being pulled in that direction. Identify your other campaign members and let’s get started.

Roll for initiative.

Reading this, I was more than a little inspired to get back into blogging, by realizing that throughout the past few months, I’ve been acting as a Wizard — sharing knowledge to hopefully educate others and provide wisdom. I needed a Long Rest to replenish my spell slots, but I’m intending to get back into the fight.

Looking Into the Future

So let’s get back to the what’s happened in the last 24 (240?) hours. The Associated Press and other news outlets have confirmed that, in addition to Trump winning back the White House, Republicans will have majorities in both the House and Senate. Coupled with the solid conservative bloc on the Supreme Court, this means that, come 2025, the Red Team will control all three branches of government.

So what are they going to be doing with that? It’s important, in my view, to separate Trump’s goals with the Grand Old Party in general, as some of his cabinet picks have been raising eyebrows all across the political spectrum — meaning that not all of these picks may find it smooth-sailing through the confirmation process. Here are just a few of the more surprising picks:

• Attorney General: (now former-) Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) — Gaetz is one of the most controversial nominations that Trump has announced. While Gaetz did indeed practice law before becoming one of the most polarizing figures in the U.S. House (he was chief architect of the removal of former speaker Kevin McCarthy, and up until his resignation last night, was under investigation by the House Ethics committee for possible underage sex trafficking), it’s very likely that his law career has little to do with why Trump selected him. He was deeply involved in the events of January 6, 2021, has promoted a lot of Trump’s and QAnon’s conspiracy theories hard, and has proved again and again both his loyalty to Trump and his willingness to throw functioning government under the bus. A number of Republican senators have already gone on the record expressing “concern” or rolling their eyes at the pick.
• Director of National Intelligence: Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI) — When Gabbard was in the House of Representatives, she was a Democrat, but since her initial attempt at running for president in 2020, has acted more and more like a Republican — up until she announced she was switching teams just a couple months ago. While she was in the House, she didn’t have anything to do with any of the intelligence agencies, and since then, has expressed solidly isolationistic views for how the US should function in the world. She’s also picked up on Russian talking points, blaming Joe Biden for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. This is going to be another headache for Senate confirmation.
• Secretary of Defense: Pete Hegseth — You’ll note that I didn’t mention any sort of title or governmental role with him, because he doesn’t have one — aside from retired captain of the Minnesota National Guard. More than anything, what probably got Hegseth the nod was his current job: Fox News host (that, and his desire to get rid of women in combat roles, pardon soldiers accused of war crimes, and eliminate DEI programs in the military). He has already stated that he wants to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and any member of the top brass who was involved in Diversity and Equity Initiatives.

LINK, LINK, LINK