The Most Fiery Consequence of Who is now President

 The blog article just before this answered the question Does it Matter Who the President Is?

It listed many consequences to the Trump Presidency, but I inadvertently left off the biggest one of all.

That's climate change. Global warming. It's not a myth. It's a scientific fact. And it's rapidly changing the viability and livability of our planet.

It's not happening as fast as originally projected. It's happening faster. Scientists are constantly having to accelerate the timetable for the deterioration of our climate.  

Extreme weather is becoming more and more common. Global average temperatures continue to soar. And, in the near future, climate refugees will even dwarf political refugees.

Our time to effect this is dwindling. Even if we had the right leadership, at this point, we can only mitigate rather than achieve a complete reversal.

The Orange Conman and his billionaire cronies are putting in policies that put us at the very top of this temperature pathway chart. Rather than embrace new technologies, they firmly embrace fossil fuels and all the devastation that their continued use will cause.

We are galloping, GALLOPING in the complete opposite direction we need to go.

The only way we could bring a quicker demise is if Trump's warmongering leads to nuclear war. Sadly, I can't rule that out.

It Makes No Difference Who Is President? Are You Serious?

 

The following is a Facebook post I posted on February 28th:

Shortly after Trump was announced the winner of the 24 election, someone told me not to worry. It really didn't matter who the President was. After one year of this madman, and especially this morning when the "Peace Presdient" has taken us to an unecessary war that will very likely result in the loss of lives of ourr sons and daughters (and the slauglter of countless Iranian citizens), I have to ask him, "Do you still think it makes no difference who is President of the United States?" But I can't. It might cause a rift in the organization we both attend.

He thinks himself neutral. He is not. He is very conservative, but with so much extremism around here, relative silence stands out as middle of the road.

For the last ten years, I have felt pent up and angry. It has been everything I can do to hold my temper in check.

I had an opportunity to ask him this about a week ago. I passed. Call me a coward if you want. But I have to constantly measure the collateral damage a remark can cause. And I decided it wasn't worth it.

But the question remains. Do you still think it doesn't matter who the President is?

Would we be currently engulfing the world in flames due to a war of choice? Would a school filled with young girls still be with us? Would any other President be stupid enough to be sucked in by Netanyahu's idea of obliterating Iran? The answer is no. No other president would have done this, especially without explanation or preparation. Bush and Cheney propagandized for a year or more before invading Iraq.

Would any other President been stupid enough to think that blanket-level tariffs were good economic policy? All that it has done has raised prices for average Americans and turned many of our allies against us. The big lesson for other countries is to build up their markets by excluding the United States. And hey, let's give 40 billion dollars to newly fascist Argentina, and prop up their beeef market over the Uniyted States! And hey, American farmers, don't worry! We'll bail you out with billionsmore of US taxpayer money!

Would Renee Good and Alex Pretti still be alive if we had a different President? Of course they would! And countless others who have been killed and/or dragged away by ICE. They're not going after the worst of the worst. They're dragging off and kidnapping US citizens, and that's bad. But they're not targeting the worst of the worst - those undocumented who have committed violent felonies. No, they're persecuting even those playing by the rules, people showing up for immigration hearings, trying to follow procedure. They're arresting people at workplaces - going after individuals - not the businesses that hire and exploit them. People are going to detention centers and then disappearing - no one knows where they've gone -deported, moved to another camp, murdered? We just don't know.* There is no exemption in Christianity where you get to treat people like they're less than human.

Would we have a President who, along with his cronies, is making billions off of corruption? No, there has never been anything like it. This is at a level we have never seen before and would never see with any other President.

Would the lgbtq+ community be made to feel less safe with any other President? I don't think so. The trans community, less than 1% of us, is being scapegoated and villainized. This is a trend in Republican politics, to attack and persecute minority communities, but the focus on trans people has been vicious and dangerous. Of course, hatred is not just reserved for them; they are just the most vulnerable. Somalis, Mexicans, Muslims - anything to make the blood boil in reich-wing America.

We elected someone who WEKNEW was a close associate of Jeffrey Epstein, the most notorious pedophile of modern times, who appears in the Epstein files more often than God and Jesus do in the bible. We have those in this country who close their eyes and pretend Trump wasn't involved. Trump wasn't a client. Trump was IN on it, part of the small inner circle planning and perpetuating this monstrosity. He owned teen beauty pageants and "modeling" agencies. He bragged about how his celebrity allowed him to get away with sexually assaulting women. They have tried to censor his name from what is released, but enough has slipped through that you have to know in your heart that he is every bit the monster that Epstein was.

I could go on and on. There are some things that are only happening, or happening at such an intense level, because we have a narcissistic, adjudicated sexual assaulter, adjudicated fraudster, convicted felon, racist, dementia-riddled, body-disintegrating, mad conman as President of the United States.

Of course, it matters who is President of the United States. Sometimes the differences are subtle. And sometimes they are apocalyptically crushing.

Guess which one Trump is?

Great Moments in Olympic History

 Please do not interpret this as a comprehensive list.  These are just moments that have stood out to me and had some impact beyond the sporting event.  They are not ranked; instead, they are listed in chronological order.

Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin (Nazi) Olympics

The 1936 Berlin Olympics were designed to be a showcase for Nazi ideology and demonstrate Aryan athletic superiority.  Hitler's racist statement was clouded by Jesse Owens winning FOUR Olympic gold medals in track and field.

Not all was golden memories, however.  Jesse Owens did not come home to a glorious welcome.  He was mistreated and ignored. He had great difficulty earning a living.  No advertisements.  No endorsements. Most of what he achieved was through the African American community.

We tend to forget that the Nazis were inspired by how historically Americans had treated blacks and native Americans, and helped develop some of their policies in persecuting the Jewish community.

Protest at the 68 Olympics

At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, two American athletes, Tommie Smith, who won gold, and John Carlos, who won bronze, raised their fists during the playing of the national anthem during their award ceremony.  It was to call attention to human rights and the racial injustices faced by Black Americans.  Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated earlier that year.  

The two athletes experienced much criticism and ostracization after that.  Nevertheless, it was an important moment in demonstrating the influence that athletes could have on important social issues, and the salute they gave has lived on as an important symbol in black communities and others that have been repressed.

The Perfect 10

It was a breathtaking moment.  Young Nadia Comaneci, a Romanian gymnast, was all of 14 years old, scored the first perfect ten on the uneven bars at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

It was spectacular, heartstopping.  It was also a bit dangerous. 

It took a while, but it did bring up age concerns.  Is 14 too young? The current age to participate is now 16.  I believe it raised some safety concerns, but I'm still researching that.  

Miracle on Ice

At the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, what is considered one of the greatest miracles in sports occurred.  A team of amateur athletes from the US defeated a team of professionals from the Soviet Union. 4 to 3.  The Soviet Union had long dominated the sport at the Olympics, and no one anywhere was expecting this outcome.  

It also marked the beginning of the end of the Olympics as a contest for amateurs.  Always an iffy proposition, with authoritarian countries doing things like placing their athletes in the military, and making it the only job they do. 

Eventually, pro athletes, including NBA and NHL stars, competed in the Olympics.  The effect in some events, like basketball, was to weigh heavily in favor of countries like the USA.  

Yes, it's kind of a recognition of reality.  It's also kind of sad, in that it was one of the last places to let amateurs shine.

Simone Biles and Mature Judgment

Gymnast Simone Biles is one of the most accomplished athletes of our time. Her 11 medals are the most won by an American gymnast.  Even those who watched little Olympics would seek out her performances.

But it is not just what she did that made her such an important sports figure.  It's having the maturity to know her limits and make wise judgments.  Gymnastic performances require and incerdible balance between the mind and the body. And she was wise enough to know when those were out of synch, and going forward would put her at considerable physical risk.

She brought that balance into sharper focus and encouraged people to respect their mental health as well as their physical health.

I admire her greatly.

The Incredible Spirit of Freedom and Joy

What an amazing breath of fresh air!

A performance not only memorable for its physical and athletic accomplishments, but for the sheer joy and explosion of optimism it encircled us with.

I'm not sure I've ever been as captivated by a performance and story as I have by Alysa Liu.  Everything in this post about the greatest moments of the Olympics is represented in her.

Her family story is captivating.  His father was a Chinese dissident who challenged the authoritarian government in Tiananmen Square. He came here to find freedom in America. She is a first-generation American, and her family shows the VITAL contributions made by our immigrants.

She is not shy about her political beliefs, standing up against ICE and other progressive causes, including her support for the LGBTQ community.

She treats her fellow competitors with support, hugs, and love.

She's a freaking nerd, into anime.  She and Amber Glenn remind me so much of my son, Benjamin.  If Earth moved in that direction, I think they would be great pals.

Where some of our other athletes were getting too far into their own heads, stressing out and making mistakes they normally wouldn't, Alysa had a carefree attitude, where the most important thing was just to skate and have fun.

She broke the stranglehold that coaching has on many of our athletes.  They are overcoached and overtrained, limited in what they can eat, do, or even think.  They've surrendered their identity to the machine, which is more concerned with promoting itself than with their athletes.  

She left the sport at 16 because it was no longer fun with everyone overcoaching and controlling her.  When she came back in 2024, it was on her own terms, and the idea that whatever happened, she was going to have FUN!

And so have we all!  In these dark days, as America gets swallowed whole by a brutal and growing fascism, she has let back in the joy of being who you are.

Whether she retires or goes on to the greatest achievements in sports, I will never forget this moment in time.

She has lit up the world for all of us.

Ice Hits Close to Home

 

Linda Davis, beloved teacher.

As terrible as some things are, we fool ourselves into thinking that they are too distant from us to impact us. Minneapolis is many hours and states away from where I live. They are mainly targeting Democratic cities, and I live in one of the reddest counties on the planet. Nothing has happened to jar loose any of the 90% who voted for Trump and pals in elections here.

But a terrible tragedy has struck close to home. The madness that is ICE struck in Savannah.   Rather than me stumbling trying to describe what happened, I will let this news story written by Margaret Coker in The Current Ga outline it for you.

"A Chatham County elementary school teacher en route to work early Monday was killed after a man trying to flee federal immigration agents rammed her vehicle on Whitefield Avenue near the Truman Parkway, according to county police.

Linda Davis, a longtime teacher at Herman W. Hesse K-8 School was pulled from her crushed Lexus sedan by emergency personnel but later pronounced dead at the hospital. The driver who allegedly hit her, 38-year-old Oscar Vasquez-Lopez, was arrested by Chatham County Police and charged with homicide and reckless driving, police said.  

The fatal collision occurred around 7:20 a.m. less than a half mile from Hesse after agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tried to pull over the vehicle driven by Vasquez-Lopez, according to police and eyewitnesses. 

Although Monday was a school holiday, Davis was due to attend teacher training that morning at the elementary school that serves a large number of Spanish-speaking children. Vasquez-Lopez appears to have driven through the red light on Whitefield on the east side of the Truman at such speed that the front and side of Davis' vehicle was crushed, witnesses told The Current GA. 

Around 7:30 a.m., before emergency workers arrived at the scene, two masked immigration agents dressed in tactical gear detained one person and ushered him to one of their two vehicles parked along Whitefield Avenue, according to two eyewitnesses. It is unclear if that person was Vasquez-Lopez or someone else. 

It is unclear whether federal agents offered any emergency assistance to the special needs teacher. Three eyewitnesses told The Current that they did not see anyone attending the mangled black Lexus before Chatham emergency services arrived at 7:45 a.m. and pried Davis from her vehicle.

Chatham County police said that they had not been aware of any planned immigration enforcement operations on Monday and were not involved in any when the collision occurred."

END Article inclusion

ICE, looking for suspects, apparently decided to harass around an elementary school, began a car chase in an area where they put others at risk. This led to a crash that took Linda Davis's life. The so-called criminal, Vasquez-Lopez, had NO criminal record.* The chase was dangerous and unwarranted.

But this hits even closer to home for us than even Savannah. Two of the witnesses were people we know. I haven't seen their names in print, so I won't name them. One is a lifelong friend of Alison's who grew up in Pierce County. The other is a close friend of one of our church family, and I believe grew up in Ware County. They are both good friends and good people, ones we still see several times a year. They escorted us around Savannah a few years ago and were great hosts, hitting up a lot of the foodie spots.

One of them worked at the school system with Linda Davis. Both of them adored her. Both of them were horrified by what ICE had done.

No one is safe. The horrors of the Trump administration will affect us all.

Even if you think the undocumented are a problem that needs to be dealt with, I think you have to agree that this is not the way to go about it. Too many innocents are being killed or wounded, many others are having their lives and families disrupted, and some are just disappearing to God knows where.

Remember, being undocumented is a civil offense, not a criminal one. THE UNDOCUMENTED ARE NOT CRIMINALS.

If you live in Southeast Georgia, you should be looking at The Current GA. Please search for it or link it to your social media. There are few truly independent, investigative news sources left. We should cherish those that we can find.

Until next time.

T. M. Strait

AOC '28

A Look Out the Window

 I let Scout have some screened-in porch time.

I drifted to other things and had forgotten I had let her out.

I came back to the kitchen to look out the window to see where she might be, and...oops, there he is!

Scout can climb up anywhere. And does. This morning he was on our fireplace mantel. There's not really much room for him there, what with all the knick-knacks. To make room, he knocked off a plastic cow figure.

We don't leave anything on the kitchen counter that he can get into anymore. Even food in a plastic bag - he will try to get at it, even if he doesn't like the food. The fun is in the destruction, not the food inside.

----------------------------------------

I was going to post a story about the OHC Book Festival I attended. I was hoping to find some pictures online to head up the post, but alas, I could not find any.

So, how did it go?

Pretty darn good! There was a good-sized crowd, with vendors, activities, seminars, and costume contests.

I sold a few books. I was surprised that Crowley Stories was a bestseller. I love that book, but I've had a hard time promoting it. Even though fictional, it is set in the Okefenokee Swamp region. And although it was written almost a decade ago, some of the plot lines have proven prophetic. Things have become os much worse down here since the emergence of Trump and MAGA. I'm sorry if that upsets some of you, but it's the truth.

The experience has reenergized me and made me want to return to writing. I have a completed book that I have not published, The Extra Credit Club. I found a new Beta reader for it and potentially a book editor to review it. In the long run, I will probably still self-publish, mostly because at my age I don't want to wait the one to three years it would take to get it accepted and published.

--------------------------------

My health is pretty good. Most of my blood pressure readings are good (at least in my world). I monitor my blood glucose with a Dexcom monitor; most of the time, I am within the normal range. I've found some things that spike my numbers and others that have less of an effect. Dark chocolate, nuts, even some whole wheat and homemade sourdough bread don't cause much of a rise. Potatoes? Whoa, Katy, bar the door!

This morning, my weight was the lowest it's been this century!

I still have periodic bouts with arthritis pains, particularly in my legs (foot, knee, lower leg).

----------------------------

I watched the Bad Bunny halftime show. It was fantastic! Did I understand what was being said? No, but I don't always catch what English-speaking singers say* (Dylan? Anyone? Anyone?). I did get the message loud and clear - a celebration of diversity and love. 

----------------------

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

AOC '28

* Maybe one of the reasons I like Johnny Cash so much is that I can understand what he says.

Your Presence Is Requested!

 

I am very excited to announce my participation in this groundbreaking event. I will have an aauthor'stable. I am trying to get back into promoting myself as a writer. I'm nervous, but I need to break through my introversion and get back into it.

As you can see from the flyer above, this is so much more than an author's presentation. There will be readings, contests, workshops, and so much more!

My good friend, Greg O'Driscoll, will be there, promoting his comic book. Both the Waycross/Ware County AND Pierce County Libraries will be there, with super information, giveaways, and contests!  

Fun for every reader of every age!

From Elizabeth Pond, Event Coordinator

We have a great chichildren'sea planned for the OHC We Love Literacy Book Festival on Saturday, February 7 from 10-4. Special thanks to the Waycross Ware County Library and the Pierce County Library!

Big Fun on the Big Front Porch

Join us on the porch for a full day of crafts, coloring, and free book giveaways!

DonDon'tss story time and visits with our favorite friends, Bluey and Pogo.

Story time: 10:15

Visit with Bluey: 10:30

Story time: 11:15

Book Character Costume Judging: 12:00

Visit with Pogo: 12:30

Story time: 1:15

Visit with Bluey: 1:30

Story time: 2:15

Visit with Pogo: 2:30

Story time: 3:15

Please come! You'll have a blast!

Sunny Bays: Flash Fiction

Look out your window.

What do you see?

I see sunny bays.  

I have a very comfortable lift chair.

One that faces my sliding glass door. Each morning, the nurses settle me there.

I wish they would do it in time for me to see the sun rise. That would be so beautiful. But they usually don't set me until after 8 AM.

Nevertheless, it is still beautiful. Much better than TV. I do have my tablet with me, with fifty ways to play solitaire. But most of the time, I just love to stare and let my mind float away.

The palm trees are gently swaying. The beach is pristine, the sand reflecting golden in the morning sunlight. When the tide is low, a strip of sand juts out and separates the bay into two.

There are a few beach umbrellas, striped red and white, with the logo for the Bay Resort splashed at the top. In the distance, I can see a lifeguard station. He is not yet on duty.  

The beach is empty, at least at first. A young family sets out camp, with beach towels and not much else. Mama has sunglasses and a paperback, the young children have shovels and pails, and the father has a Frisbee. I'm surprised they don't have a dog -but then, as if on cue, a teenager appears, a hyper cocker spaniel at his heels.

Others arrive, the beach filling out.  

The waves are modest. Still, I could hear the rhythmic motion of the ocean even through my closed glass door.

The tablet lay unopened on my lap. I don't need it. I'm somewhere else. I'm on the beach, Melinda holding my hand. Before we settle down, we race to the ocean. It is not as warm as I hoped, but it is bracing, and we quickly adjust. The water is up to our shoulders. I hold her close, and we kiss.

The current pulls at us, wanting to take us further out to sea.

This time, we do not resist.

The tablet drops from my lap.

The Appearance of Resistance

 

January started out rough.

The invasion of Venezuela. 

The ICE-engineered violence in Minneapolis.

The sabre-rattling over Greenland threatens to destabilize the entire world.

Not to mention the illegal noncompliance over releasing the Epstein files.

Our slow roll to fascism was picking up a tremendous head of steam.

But then, unexpected checks came into play.

In Venezuela, the gush of cheap oil became questionable.  The big oil companies proved reluctant to invest billions in something they were unsure would justify the results.  There is no surge of democracy or freedom, as the President seems satisfied to leave the country inthe hands of Maduro's subordinates - as long as the President gets to dip his beak into their riches.  He seems reluctant to take the next steps, so this great colonial exploitation remains frozen.

We were rescued from an invasion/takeover of Greenland, not because of a burst of conscience from Trump or MAGA, but by the reaction of Wall Street.  A slumping market reaction caused TACO to retreat. Good? Yes, I guess so.  But it is rather frightening to think the moral compass of the US is now the stock market.  The same group that rises in delirium when unemployment goes up? Boy, are we in trouble!

I don't know what's going on with the Epstein files.  But despite all the noise, people still want them to come out, even many MAGA supporters.

The hopes with the ICE invasion of Minneapolis was to rile up the citizens enough to justify a martial law takevoer of Minnesota.  It was a test to see how Trump's Gestapo could shut down a state and its elections.

They failed to achieve this.  Instead, the good people of Minneapolis took to their whistles and phones and recorded the insanity and violence that ICE was bringing. The resulting tragedies that occurred were recorded, and the lies the Trump administration tried to impose on them made it impossible for people to believe them.  All but the most MAGA-infused could see, undeniably, the federal government was lying to them.

They are not out of Minneapolis yet, but they are in retreat.  They are like a snake that has not yet realized that its head has been cut off.

The battle against fascism is far from over.  But we have gained a foothold against the avalanche of evil and suppression they have hurled at the American people and the world at large.

Resistance is not futile, but itain't easy.

God bless Renae Good. God bless Alex Pretti, and the minimum seven others who were killed by ICE so far this year. God bless the people of Minneapolis and the countless others across the world who are standing strong.

May the force of goodness, decency, and hope be with you all.

Mysterious Photograph #7: Chips Ahoy

I have not received official word on this story, but enough time has passed that I can only assume I am a loser.  Nevertheless, here it is!

Chips Ahoy

 I was beginning to regret my decision to kill Kevin so impulsively. Now I only have a photo on my phone. So many parts inside these old watches! Oy! Why don’t I think these things out?

          Living next to the Cambrinis, I knew that Grandfather Gino was a consummate watch repairman with a garage shop. He had dozens of old watches he tinkered with, still there after he died. Father Robert used his inherited talents for tiny parts, working on a revolutionary chip for the next generation of AI. Kevin thought the chip could be worth BILLIONS.

          When Kevin’s father was fired, he stole the chip and hid it in one of the old watches. Kevin made the mistake of telling me. Remember? Impulse problems? We tortured his father to get him to tell us exactly where the chip was. Unfortunately, I tortured him a little too hard.

          Kevin got angry and started beating me. Well, he did for a little while. Then I got the upper hand.

          Now I had to find the damn chip by myself, with only their cat to keep me company. I had a pile of watch gears, nothing that looked like a chip.

          I refused to give up. The cost had been way too high. Then Eureka! I found it. The cat swooped in and swallowed it whole.

          Should I gut the cat and get the chip, or should I wait for it to pass? 

          I decided to wait.

          I’m not a monster, you know.

Kaleidoscope Not Required: Saturday Political Soap Box 302

 

I admit it.

Alison and I watch and read a lot of True Crime. I'm not going to explain or justify it. That's for another post. Just accept it as a backdrop for this blog entry.

One of the bizarre cases we've read and watched is The Yogurt Shop Murders, where four teenage females were killed while closing down for the night at a TCBY (This Can't Be Yogurt) shop at a strip mall in Austin, Texas. This was in 1991.

No one has been caught. Every few years, the case is looked at again. Every time, they twist the kaleidoscope and come up with a different view. Every time we think we have it figured out, a twist of the kaleidoscope will turn up something else, and we're lost and confused as to what really happened.

This can apply to many true crime cases, including the 2005 Tifton area murder of Tara Grinstead, the assassination of JFK (many people have made a lot of money twisting the kaleidoscope on that one), just to name two examples.

But not all crime looks different in the kaleidoscope. Some answers remain the same no matter how you taste.

No matter how you twist the kaleidoscope, the answer always remains the same -

Ice Agent Jonathan Ross murdered a young mother in cold blood.

IN. ICE. COLD. BLOOD.

We're Running Out of Time

 

For the first time, I am doing the reverse of what I usually do - instead of first posting this as a blog entry, I wrote directly on Facebook. Yes, it received much more reaction than when I try to post my blog directly onto Facebook.

I am putting it here now for my handful of readers who go directly to the blog. You will always be first in my heart!

We're running out of time.

We may have a week to ten days, and it will be too late by then.

We're not going to make it three years. We may not even make it this month.

Things are accelerating far too fast.

Minneapolis is under attack RIGHT NOW. People are dying RIGHT NOW. What happened to Renae Good is, tragically, just the beginning.

The Venezuelan takeover was not just horrible; it made no sense whatsoever. The oil is not wanted, not at the cost of developing it. It is the beginning of an evil dream to dominate and exploit ALL the people in the Western hemisphere, not for the benefit of the American people, but for Trump and a handful of his billionaire buddies.

The biggest nightmare right now is Greenland, and how Trump wants to take it over. For the same reasons as Venezuela, for the exploitation of resources to benefit the few. If he does this, it will trigger World War III. And this time, we'll be the bad guys. We'll be fighting our own alliance - NATO.

He is marching towards this. I wish it were a joke, just his usual bluster. But we can't count on that. Too much is at stake. I have already read that many children in Greenland are terrified and have trouble sleeping at night. Trump supporters - THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE LED US TO.

We may have a week or two before we are on a course that we cannot reverse.

Impeachment is too slow. The 25th Amendment is not likely. And JD Vance waits in the wings.

We need Republicans to pass a measure that makes it clear he can't invade any NATO country or ally. We need it NOW.

Most importantly, we need someone to make the ultimate sacrifice. Someone who knows and can do so to release the unredacted Epstein Files.

I'm open to other ideas, but it has to happen FAST.

We're running out of time.

Flash Fiction: I Read the News Today

 

I read the news today.

Well. I read some headlines on my phone. I had a choice between several sources.  Which one you picked depended mostly on which billionaire you liked best. 

They all pretty much said the same thing.  Explaining in great detail why Greenland should be a part of the United States.

One billionaire said it should be for national security.  He had many military contracts with the United States.

Another billionaire said it should be to gain the oil resources under the permafrost.  The implication was that Greenland would become more valuable as global warming melted its glaciers.

Yet another was a tech bro, and coveted the abundance of rare earth elements - once again, under the melting permafrost.

Finally, one was a real estate mogul who saw it as an opportunity for development.  It helped that he was also the son of a former President of the United States.

I wondered who lived there and what they thought.

For that, I would have to read deeper.  I wasn't going to do that. Too much time.  I had other stuff to do. I had to get to my second job. Help earn enough to keep the family afloat amid our rising bills.

I thought about stopping at Chick-fil-A for a morning biscuit.  But I didn't want to spend $12.99 to get that.  I could eat after work.  Esmerelda, my beautiful partner, was a whiz with PB & J.  If she had any time between her three jobs.

I arrived at Hobby Lobby at 6 AM, just in time for my morning shift: stocking, cleaning, and preparing sales merchandise for the store's 9 AM opening.  Today was going to feature a special on the Twin figurines - Jesus blessing his representative on Earth, President Vance.

There was also a display honoring our dedicated immigration enforcement agency, ICE.  Last year, this day was declared National ICE Recognition Day, where we celebrated their vigilant protection of our borders and saving us from the wrath of the evil and illegal aliens.

Not all the aliens were deported, of course.  Many remained in camps, and as prisoners, supplying their labor to farmers and hotel owners, and maintaining the yards and homes of our beneficiaries of the Prosperity Gospel. I had a friend tell me this was just a modern form of slavery.  We had no follow-up conversations.  He was sent to a re-education camp.  We had a lot of camps.  None that I would want to go to, though.

My two workmates, Marvin and Matilda, and I worked hard and got the store in order with fifteen minutes to spare.  We thought we could take a few minutes to relax, but the manager told us to re-clean the windows.  Again.  For the third time this morning.

The doors opened.

The crowd came in.

They were very white.

As usual.

It's another great day in the Kingdom!

All hail President Vance and his lovely spouse, Vice-President Kirk-Vance!

Taking the Wrong Fork

 

Global warming/climate change is real.  It's not a debate.  It's a reality. Even Trump knows this.  He won't tell you this.  But you can see from his behavior and actions.

With climate change advancing faster than scientists anticipated, we are at a fork in the road.  Which fork, which path will we take?

One fork leads to greater conservation efforts, a move away from the damage done by fossil fuels and towards alternative fuel sources that are less harmful to the planet. It requires science and international cooperation.  It may result in energy sources that are more universal but less profitable to the multinational corporations.

Some nations are striving that way.  But, clearly, the United States is not.

They have chosen a different fork.  This fork leads to...

Resource Wars!

In that scenario, we do not change or evolve.  We do not develop (or prioritize) energy alternatives.  We double down on the fossil fuels that are destroying us.  We use our strength and power to take what we want.  

It is not to benefit the nations we are robbing.  It really does not even benefit us.  What it does is enrich the multinational oil companies.  What it does is increase the wealth and power of the billionaire class.  It enriches the Trump family.

The damage it does to the planet is not their concern.  They see it as a problem for another generation.  Their plan is to take advantage of the planetary changes to enrich themselves.

It will take a lot of moolah to survive what's coming, and they will have it in spades.

Stripping Venezuela of its terrible dictator is one thing.  Running Venezuela is another.  The trump administration has made it clear that the priority is resource exploitation, not the democratic liberation of the Venezuelan people.  The Nobel Prize winner, Machado, whose opposition candidate won the last election (but was denied victory), has been deemed "too unpopular" to be allowed to take control.  This is by the man whose popularity in this country is hovering around 35%, and will most likely rocket further downward.

It's not just the oil; it will take a lot of time and investment to have any impact on world oil supply or price.  It's the rare-earth elements that the billionaire tech bros drool over. This AI revolution comes at a high cost, in its incredible consumption of water and electricity, and rare earth elements.

Speaking of water, the resource wars over fuel will seem minuscule compared to the fight over dwindling supplies of fresh water.  Oh, Lord, I would not want to be living in Phoenix, Arizona.

A super reveal of how much the Trump administration accepts climate change is the incredible lust for Greenland.  As the glaciers and permafrost melt, more and more resources will be discovered.  Greenland will be a vast treasure trove for the wealthy elite.

There can be no doubt that we have taken the wrong fork in the climate change road.  In a contest between a dangerously altered Earth and an all-out cooperative mitigation effort, it is incredible how much the scent of money can steer people away from decency.

Nothing is going to get the US off this path for the next three years.  Even if Trump is replaced, they'll still control everything.  Vance is a billionaire bro B-boy.  Midterms won't matter.  They don't need Congress to do what they want.

I'm sorry, this isn't a feel-good post.  Even if Americans wake up, it is much too late. At some point, we can reverse course, back up, and get on the right fork in the road, one that leads to conservation and science-based solutions.

I'm not optimistic.