Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
The net has a few comments catching my attention today.
It is January 6 and we have the fifth anniversary of Trump’s first attempted coup to remember.
MPS offers a succinct reminder.
Never forget that Republicans voted for this. Three times. That’s your root-cause analysis right there.
I was visiting my sister at her house. She, her husband, my wife, niece, her boyfriend, Mom, and I were chatting. All present are Democrats at the least and progressive for the most part. Liberals. Most of our previous conversation included invectives aimed right at Trump and the Trump Regime minions destroying our nation. Then, lo, sis said, “I’m okay with him destroying those boats and killing those drug dealers.”
I was so horrified.
She went on to say, “They know who those people are.”
“Really? The people we were just talking about ‘know’ who those people are in those boats? Those people we just talked about? The ones who lie about anything and everything? You trust them to correctly and intelligently inform us that the people they’re killing in those boats are drug dealers just on their word?”
That was just the opening salvo. Yeah, I ranted. I pointed out that the U.S. military isn’t supposed to be used as wholesale executioners, killing non-combatants or civilians who are not actively attacking United States troops. Pointed out that this takes a huge step around due process and justice. Depends on the single word of a single individual to declare who is a criminal and who is guilty, all without presenting any evidence. And that person who we’re trusted that process to is a well-known liar, an untrustworthy individual named Donald J. Trump. That on its own is terrible but what it does as precedence for the rule of law is monstrously worse.
Further, I added, cuz I was not done, further, haven’t we learned from history? This is the start down the same path of pseudo warfare and lawlessness we pursued before as national policy, policy which ultimately culminated with the attacks of 9/11 that killed thousands of United States citizens, attacks which were then used with manipulated evidence to attack the nations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Where did that lead us? What did we gain from attacking those nations and killing those people and sacrificing so many of our own citizens in fruitless war?
“I don’t care,” sis said. “I want those drug dealers dead.”
Yeah. Disappointed. Angry.
Sad.
Ghost are all around, inhabiting the land.
Offices.
Factories.
Houses.
They’re sometimes noticed.
Most are forgotten.
Except by other ghosts.
The ghosts did many things for us.
Served in the military.
Protected us.
Gave their lives.
Raised food for us. Fed us.
Kept us safe.
Wrote laws with the best intentions.
And tried to lift us up and lead us forward.
They gave us light and security.
Running water.
Safe water.
Safe homes.
Electricity.
Bridges and roads.
Books and paintings, music and rock.
Humor.
Raised us up with hands and ideas.
And now wait.
Until we’re ghosts.
And join them.
To be forgotten.
Remembered only by other ghosts.
Autumn is toddling in, dragging cooler air over us. Wildfire smoke adds a gauzy layer to tamp down temperatures. 68 F, clouds scuff up the blue sky. Thunderstorms are expected to drop in, and the temperature will top at a cordial 75 F. This is Munda, September 8, 2025. Our air quality is moderate, hovering in the 90s.
Dad is in the hospital in Texas, going through tests and assessments to see what can be done about his condition. Mom is okay at home, it seems, coming across as feisty in her texts. Steve is in hospice with multiple myeloma. Andy is recovering in the hospital from his surgery and getting ready to begin physical therapy. Sis is going into the hospital for a ‘medical procedure’ today. Telling me via text yesterday that she wasn’t well, she remained vague about what her medical procedure was for. I see my doctor tomorrow. Sounds like friends and family medical week.
The latest unexpected shock to the system politically has the Roberts Court again supporting Trump. Yes, it’s a real *gasp* moment. The ruling allows ICE to randomly patrol and pick up people based on whatever the fuck motivates those actions that day. It’s the Trump MAGALand way. MAGAts are applauding it. One said in comments on an article, “As an American I think that ICE and any law enforcement officer enforcing our immigration laws and detaining and having any and all illegal people regardless of race or nationality, is exactly what they should be doing, and we support them 100%.” Except, yawn, ‘Old Patriot Guy’, they’re not enforcing laws; they’re enforcing Executive Orders. Due process isn’t being followed. But that’s okay with OPG and others like him. Ends justify the means. To them, everyone ICE picks up is an illegal and needs to be kicked out. Like how he shifted from ‘I, American’ to ‘we’ by his comment’s end. Was that a slip of the royal we subconsciously thrust in there? Of course, MAGAts consistently demonstrate narrow focus and shallow thinking. OPG might be applauding and waving his flag over Trump’s ICE disappearing people without due process, but you can bet that his comments will change if he and his get struck. He’ll probably then whine, “What happened to innocent until proven guilty?” We know that in Trump’s U.S., that only applies to PINO TACO himself.
Meanwhile, Trump has again opted for fiction to support his decisions and policies. Has to be so for PINO Trump, if you think about it; truth, logic, reality, honor, and history all stand firmly against him. Since Trump brought it up, how much will longer we need to endure Trumpocalypse? Nine months into 2025, it’s already too much.
Today’s music is for Rick Davies, Supertramp member and songwriter. He passed at 81 after losing to cancer. The Neurons and I agreed to play 1974’s “Bloody Well Right” in the morning mental music stream in honor and memory of Rick Davies.
Hope peace and grace sniff you out and give you help as needed today. Coffee has made a splash in my body. And it’s off to the races we go. Cheers
Frida, June 13th, 2025, breached with cold air and muzzled sunshine. 59 F, we’re pacing ourselves to climb to 74 F. It’s a chill day. Feels good out there.
Another night of dreams. They covered feeling lost and frustrated, ignored, and change that confused me. Awakened, I felt heavy with loss and disappointment, struggling to find direction and traction, like I’m spinning my wheels to stay in place.
We saw more Trump Justice Two Step last night. Judge said, “Illegal to put them National Guard into LA, Donald,” and another court said, “Keep doing it while we talk about this.” I laughed when Trump’s lawyers argued that California should not “second-guess the President’s judgment that federal reinforcements were necessary” and that a federal court should defer to the president’s discretion on military matters. Oh, they can rouse themselves to such pompous righteous indignation. Trump loves to say he’s leaving things up to the states. ‘I’m gonna wean them off FEMA.’ “The people on the ground know what’s going on and can take care of it best,” he said before.
But he’s fast to ignore the state’s rights and decisions when it doesn’t suit him and barge right in wherever the fuck he wants. The principle behind his moves are always, “Me Donald, you I hate.” In this case, he hates Gov. Newsom and California because he lost California. Didn’t get within sniffing distance of winning it.
TACO is very predictable in his lawless ways. “You spit, we hit!” But that wasn’t the case with the J6 insurrectionists. Yeah, they were attacking the nation, doing a lot more damage phsically and judicially, as the J6 gang attacked the police. No, that had TACO saying, “Me Donald, me love you,” because they were doing it for him. He’s sickening, and the GOP is sickening and shameful for going along with his twisted hyperbole. They won’t be happy until they burn the nation down and then they’ll blink their eyes wide and say, “Gosh, what happened?” Just as they did with multiple previous fiascos. See the Gulf Wars as a big fucking example. My contempt for them has surged out past Starlink.
I’m also having a good laugh at MAGAts. They’re trying to excuse the DC parade as planned BT: Before Trump. One MAGAt declared that President Obama became planning it, lazily conflating celebrating the Army’s 250 year anniversary with the bloated military display scheduled for this weekend. That’s the MAGAts, always bending over for TACO to screw them.
I have “Creep” by Radiohead in the morning mental music stream. Just that sort of morning. Here, little TACO. This is for you.
Pressing on with coffee to go get things done. Let’s be safe out there. Cheers
PINO TACO is moving into full bully mode. The mango chump who would be king has become a royal pain in the ass with his attitude.
This ‘servant of the people’ is screaming about disrespect. “If you spit, we hit.” Or some shit like that.
It’s true playground diplomacy bullshit, a threat worthy of an individual with little mental acumen.
Of course, he lies to embellish his reasoning and thinking for using the military in Los Angeles. Says the whole place is burning down, just like it did before, or some shit like that.
That was a surprise to people living and working in Los Angeles. They’re far more worried about unwanted military troops entering their city. But here is Trump, acting like he’s King George III and this is 1775.
Not to be outdone, Gov. Abbott, the Republican Reactionary running Texas, has ordered his state’s national guard to quell unrest this weekend. Just in case, you know. They’ve learned nothing on the right. Escalating tensions and violence only leads to greater escalation. We saw it the colonies in the 1770s. Saw it again in the 1960s. Witnessed it at Kent State. Saw it again at Ruby Ridge and Waco.
And it’s really a problem when a strong-arm government views protestors as insurrectionists and employ their own military to put them down. For Trump to do this after Jan 6 of 2020, when insurrectionists destroyed things, and injured and killed people in his name to overturn the election results, is as hypocritical as anything Trump has ever done.
It’s like saying masks aren’t healthy and then ordering ICE agents to be masked.
Or claiming to be the most unfairly persecuted person ever and then arresting people and deporting them without paperwork, trial, or due process.
But that’s Trump, seeing everything upside down and backwards, leading a group of people who are the same.
This reminder comes to you courtesy of Mock Paper Scissors. I tried reblogging it, but, WordPress. So here it is, with a link to them. Respect to them for the reminder, this felon is the leader of the former GOP, which is now the Greedy Old TACO Party, GOTP. The Trumplicans who were once Republicans sometimes weakly mew with indignation have certainly demonstrated that they are, like him, racist, greedy, unprincipled, with little regard for due process, the oaths they swore, or most of their constituents.
LET’S GO, TACO.
It this is Thursday, it must be time for WTF, America, in Trumpland.
Have you heard about Kasper Eriksen? After living here in the United States as a green card holder working to become a U.S. citizen, ICE arrested him. Mr. Eriksen was working as a welder in a small Mississippi town. He emigrated to the U.S. in 2013 and married a woman, an American citizen, in 2014. They have children together. When he went for his naturalization interview on April 15th, 2025, he was arrested for a paperwork error from 2015. He’s been in a Louisianna prison since his arrest for that 2015 paperwork mistake.
This is typical of the clumsy, heavy-handed, Trump Regime, a group of people selected for their lack of empathy and intelligence, just like their Dear Leader. They’re sloppy and incompetent, and it’s trending upward. And as in the case of wayward children or mistakes-prone staff, if they’re not held to fix things, to correct their behavior, it’ll only get worse.
Green Card Holder Detained by ICE at Immigration Appointment, Wife Says
Danish man living in Mississippi detained by ICE at naturalization meeting
Once again, without much urging, I think, what fucking idiots.
Unfortunately, I’m in that frame of mind many times as I read the news. This time, the fucking idiots are lawyers.
Lawyers are supposedly smart people. That’s what I’ve always been told. Admittedly, the few lawyers I’ve personally encountered did reduce my appreciation for lawyers’ intelligence. Now, after watching the news for the last five years, I feel that they standards have been steadily dropping. Did you read their arguments about the ‘stolen election’? Did you see their performance in Trump’s trials? Did you read about the Roberts Court decision that Trump has immunity for his acts as POTUS? Sure, they tried to write around it and explain that it’s not absolute. You can bet your ass that Trump is thinking, “I’m President, and I’m making these decisions, and the Supreme Court said that I can’t be tried for that.”
Yes, it was a stupid fucking decision.
I’m telling you, lawyers are dumbing down. Soon, the requirements for being a lawyer will be, “Do you speak English, have five million dollars, and will vow allegiance to the great and mighty sacred god, Donald Trump? Here you go: you’re a lawyer.”
The kickoff for this new round of low regard for lawyers was a New York Times headline:
Law Firms Made Deals With Trump. Now He Wants More From Them.
“To avoid retribution, big firms agreed to provide free legal services for uncontroversial causes. To the White House, that could mean negotiating trade deals — or even defending the president and his allies.“
Absolute fucking fools, I think. Fucking idiots. Have these lawyers not been awake and aware of Donald fucking Trump for the last twenty years? He lacks honor. Has gone back on his word several times, describing it as being ‘flexible’. His only principle is, “How can I further enrich myself?” Secondary to that is, “How can I make others pay for making fun of me and not worshipping me as the greatest ever?” The man is a documented liar. He violated his marriage vows with affairs. He will cheat these law firms out of every fucking dollar and shred of dignity they have.
Capitulating to Trump is not the answer. Reading and thinking individuals know this. Michael Cohen warned us. So I want to know: how did these lawyers get their degrees and pass the bar without being able to fucking read and think?
Michael Seidel, writer 