Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
Enlargement on a bit of history and a reminder of what civil disobedience can do, when it’s done right. It can be useful to apply this knowledge to what we’re now enduring under the Trump Regime and right-wing activists who want to turn back time in the U.S. and world. Cheers
Seen at a No-Kings protest on June 14, 2025.
This Facebook post simply breaks my heart. More, reading this post reminds me that any team and nation is only as strong as its weakest link. Our nation, through the actions of Donald Trump and the right-wing machine, is systemically and deliberately weakening my nation. It’s an affront to me as a person who served this nation in the military for over twenty years.
I hope others will read this and stand against any more of our nation’s backward stance before it’s too late for us.
***************************************************************************************
I have been placed on administrative leave, effective tomorrow, pending separation.
In my last official act, I was able to pin medals on three of my folks. The last salute broke my heart in two and the tears flowed freely even as I have so much to be thankful for and so many amazing memories.
There are two moments that bookend my authentic service that will stay with me always.
The first was in 2016, the day the Secretary of Defense announced that transgender individuals could serve openly. That very day, I came out to my teammates. After sending the email, I left for the gym to burn off the nervous energy, uncertain of how life might change. When I returned, one by one, my teammates came to my desk, shook my hand, and said versions of, “It’s an honor to serve with you.”
The second came just last week at my final 1-star level sync with the Joint Staff. I provided one brief update and then shared that it was my final meeting and because it was an unplanned departure we’d have to figure out my replacement soon. The colonel next to me asked where I was going. I let him know that I didn’t meet the current standard for “Military Excellence and Readiness” and would be departing on administrative leave.
There was a moment of silence before reality settled in. Then, one-by-one, a room full of senior leaders, admirals and generals, walked over to me and the scene from 2016 repeated. They offered those same words, now tinged with the sadness of past tense: “It’s been an honor to serve with you.”
Both times, I walked away with tears in my eyes. It wasn’t from sadness, but because everyone had it backwards: it has been my honor to serve with all of them.
While my time in uniform is ending far earlier than I had hoped, rather than grieving what has been lost I am choosing to focus on all I have gained.
What I gained, most unexpectedly, was a family. A team that stood by me through life’s most difficult trials. From the loss of a child and another who fought for life after being born 12 weeks early, to a cancer diagnosis and life-threatening surgery, to the circumstances leading to my separation today, they were there. They offered encouragement, extended their hands, shared their love, and showed the kind of care that can only be forged through shared service. I will never forget the countless times they lifted me up. My hope is that I was able to offer that same support in return.
This chapter may be ending, but I leave far richer for having gone on this grand adventure.
I will miss the mission deeply, but I will miss those I have served with even more than I can put into words.
It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve this nation and defend the freedoms and opportunities we have as Americans. My wildest dreams came true wearing this uniform.
Bree Fram
Welcome to Wenzda, June 4, 2025. Blissful on the back patio this morning. 65 F and sunny, the backyard was vibrant with greenery, and absolutely still and silent, a perfect setting to sip coffee, catch rays, and rebalance my circadian rhythm. Papi the butter butt floof was my sole companion. Fresh from eating breakfast, he was content to clean himself with occassional passes against my calves. 80 is again the mark nature has set for us as a high in Ashlandia.
Happy Pride Month. June is Pride Month. Fools and charlatans in the Gold House, the place previously referred to the White House, contest the need to celebrate Pride Month. They prefer to believe that anyone who professes anything but straight genders and roles are crazy, making it up, or other ridiculous things. And I say, screw them. We will keep building and progressing. It might be on pause while they’re in control, but they are not moving us back, no matter how hard they try, no matter what they do. We will build an inclusive world where all people are equal without any qualifications imposed by anyone else. It’s strikingly hypocritical that the right will say things about God being the creator and giving rights and simultaneously deny that God created anyone who dares say, for example, my name is Michael, and my preferred pronouns are she and her. “How dare you,” these self-annointed arbiters shriek. I ask them back, “How dare you. Who the hell are you to decide who the rest of us are? Screw you.”
In honor of Pride Month, let’s begin with “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga. Wikipedia gives us a good summary of the song.
“Born This Way” is a song by American singer Lady Gaga, and the lead single from her second studio album of the same name. Written by Gaga and Jeppe Laursen, who produced it along with Fernando Garibay and DJ White Shadow, the track was developed while Gaga was on the road with the Monster Ball Tour. Inspired by 1990s music which empowered women, minorities, and the LGBT community, Gaga explained that “Born This Way” was her freedom song.
Lady Gaga said, “I want to write my this-is-who-the-fuck-I-am anthem, but I don’t want it to be hidden in poetic wizardry and metaphors. I want it to be an attack, an assault on the issue because I think, especially in today’s music, everything gets kind of washy sometimes and the message gets hidden in the lyrical play. Harkening back to the early ’90s, when Madonna, En Vogue, Whitney Houston and TLC were making very empowering music for women and the gay community and all kind of disenfranchised communities, the lyrics and the melodies were very poignant and very gospel and very spiritual and I said, ‘That’s the kind of record I need to make. That’s the record that’s going to shake up the industry.’ It’s not about the track. It’s not about the production. It’s about the song. Anyone could sing ‘Born This Way’. It could’ve been anyone.”
Got my coffee. I enjoy a cup in the morning. I was born that way. Have the best Wenzda you can. Cheers
A cold night surrendered to blue skies and warming sunshine. It’s 62 F now. The sun is promoting a high of 76 F. It’s said that we’ll see 81 F tomorrow. This is Munda, May 5, 2025 in Ashlandia. This is spring in Ashlandia.
Our trip last week gifted us a few things. One, my sciatica kicked in on Saturday. Too much time in a car seat. I’ve been dealing with it off and on since I was 20. I can usually feel it developing and head it off with stretching exercises. My early warning system failed me this time. I didn’t medicate but my wife suggested a Salon Pas. I slapped that thing on. I couldn’t believe the ensuing burning. I was in a recliner watching telly. The heat grew so intense, I pulled the patch off. On a whim, I popped it on my belly.
Well, call me Steve if I wasn’t surprised by the results. I suffer belly bloat. That Salon Pas patch remarkably reduced it. So I did it again yesterday. Same result. I was truly astonished and impressed and put another one on today. Only drawback from the patch at this point is hair. Yes, I’m a hairy boi. Getting that patch off required scissors and delicacy. The end result was a belly Brazil.
That’s my side. My wife could hardly get out of a chair on Friday night. She’d been complaining about pain and using different methods to address inflamation and pain. Epsom paths. Salon Pas. Valtaren. Red light therapy. Bed rest. Diet. But her weakness scared me. She’s better today but related that when we were on vacation, she worried about getting out of the bathtub. Fortunately, handles were available. Here an home, she reported a similar problem.
Her problems dig into my psyche as my sister peppers me with updates on Mom. “Mom is really debilitated. She’s confused about dates and other things.” Mom went and stayed with sis. “Mom said that she had to pee. Then she stood and began peeing. I went to help her, asking her what she needs. Mom said, I’m going to fall. I dropped everything and rushed over and caught her, keeping her from falling.” There are good answers about what to do but none are simple. Guilt spreads through me because I seem to recover. My sciatica did a quick and silent goodbye while Mom and my wife both endure. I can do little for either.
Politics again inspired The Neurons for today’s music. A conversation with my wife was the catalyst. She was reading about Conservatives complaining that the root of all of today’s problems in the USA is letting white women go to college and having the right to vote. Apparently, all those women going to college are getting liberal arts degrees and daring to think, and college screws up their thinking.
Like, WTF, seriously? Do those men really believe that? Pretty damn galling to that these people, these obviously sexist and biased shallow thinkers, think they have the right to deprive others of rights.
Included in the responses was a woman being interviewed. She said she could never vote for a woman to be POTUS. Because of hormones. What? Yes, because of hormones. If they’re going through menopause, their mood will change and they’ll go off and start a war.
The male interviewer responded, “But haven’t all the wars been started by men so far?”
The woman went wide eye and still. The video ended.
Talking about this thread of crazo thinking, we remarked, so many people underestimate others’ contributions. Maybe they learn and forget.
And that encouraged The Neurons to begin The Who and “Eminence Front” in the morning mental music stream.
Drinks flow
People forget
That big wheel spins, the hair thins
People forget
Forget they’re hiding
The news slows
People forget
Their shares crash, hopes are dashed
People forget
Forget they’re hiding
h/t to Americansongwriter.com
Off to drink more coffee and employ my neurons in some writing. Hope your energy is up and pulls you safely through another day. Here’s the music. Cheers
We’ve been enjoying (yes, snark) so many WTF America out of the Trusk Regime. But here’s another to be shared.
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of wrongly-deported Maryland dad Kilmar Abrego Garcia, spoke out after the Department of Homeland Security posted her address on X.
The Trusk Regime is such an abomination. They care not at all about the Constitution, due process, history, tradition, or people’s safety and privacy, including children.
Absolutely disgusting. Again.
Michael Seidel, writer 