Welcome to the Voyage of the Damned

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/opinion/welcome-to-the-voyage-of-the-damned.html

https://archive.ph/8R0L7

Welcome to the Voyage of the Damned
Feb. 14, 2026, 7:58 a.m. ET
By Maureen Dowd

When President Trump vitiated scientific facts on Thursday, helping fossil fuel fat cats by eliminating the government’s ability to regulate treacherous gases, a reporter asked what he says to people worried about the very real hazards of a hotter planet.

“I tell them don’t worry about it,” he shot back.

The administration has even coined a word to denigrate those who push back on Trump’s rash policies: “panican,” as in one who panics.

In a world steeped in violence and menace, we are constantly being told by the people in charge not to worry.


...

[spanone]

1. We're on a roller coaster to hell if we don't stop this maniac.

[Wednesdays]

2. "Don't worry; the ship will right itself"

-- an officer on the Lusitania, shortly after the ship was torpedoed.

[Solly Mack]

3. They don't care who dies or what damage is caused.

And people can call it a matter of "policy" and not anything criminal because those harmful policies were government sanctioned, but Hitler's actions were "policy". Pinochet's actions were "policy". Stalin's actions were "policy". Putin's actions are "policy". Mussolini's actions were "policy". Franco's actions were "policy". Bush's torture policy was policy.

Being "policy" does not mean said actions aren't criminal. Doesn't mean they aren't dangerous and harmful. Doesn't mean they should be considered a case of merely different ideas on how America's democratic republic should look and operate.

It is not criminalizing politics to acknowledge that some political acts are in fact crimes.

[2naSalit]

4. ...

[leftstreet]

5. "vitiated" I had to look that up

How cool though. Insert any/all

What is another word for vitiated?
Some common synonyms of vitiate are corrupt, debase, debauch, deprave, and pervert. While all these words mean "to cause deterioration or lowering in quality or character," vitiate implies a destruction of purity, validity, or effectiveness by allowing entrance of a fault or defect.

DURec