The Price Tag Of Progress

We never even noticed the demise of the glossy magazine.  One day they were just gone, missing from waiting room tables everywhere as though they’d never been, with only empty racks and dusty outlines to mark their passing.

By and large they’re quite unmourned, it’s sad to say.  It’s tough to miss the sort of writing one only reads while killing time waiting for a haircut, articles you can put down unfinished without regret.

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Choose Your Hill Wisely

Buckle up, buttercup. This one’s going to be a ride.

My friends keep telling me that I should be more upset about Trump. I say: since when does panic help? We’re a month into Armageddon and I feel fine. Canned goods, artillery, and stockpiled toilet paper ease the anxiety some — and there’s a lot to ease, God knows. If it’s this or the fiscal cliff, we’re all screwed anyway.

The Trump Speed Circus is back in town, and it’s a howling beast of a thing: raw, unfiltered, DOGE tearing through Washington like a Cocaine Bear meet-cute. The air’s thick with confusion, a swirling fog of half-baked policies and wild-eyed firings that’s got the so-called Resistance stumbling around like drunks at a funeral. You can smell the panic, taste the disarray. It’s February 25, 2025, and the machine’s spinning so fast it’s throwing sparks — nobody knows where to plant their flag.

Friends, hear me. That’s the whole damn point.

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No, Joe, It Ain’t

In a last gasp effort to remain relevant — and, knowing Uncle Joe, to do what he feels is the right thing — our president has announced that, as far as he’s concerned, the ERA is the law of the land, the 28th Amendment, properly ratified by the states.

He’s wrong, but that didn’t stop him.

Mind you, he doesn’t actually need to be right for his announcement to matter.

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Traitor Tulsi?

If you’re paying attention, you’ve heard the rumors: Putin shill, friend to dictators, traitor to her political party, spy for America’s enemies.

Which is, I gotta say, totally nuts. No, not just the spy bit — all of it, beginning to end. For anyone who’s followed her career, she’s been nothing but consistent, and she wears her heart, and her convictions, on her sleeve for all to see.

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So There’s This Election Tomorrow…

A while ago, I decided that continuing to talk about Donald Trump would only keep giving him free press. I find him odious enough that the last thing I want to do is give him anything for free, so I simply stopped.

However, it’s now election time, and enough people have asked me that, finally, I figure it’s both safe and useful to provide the best information I can about what’s going to happen, in as unbiased a fashion as practicable, and without saying “I don’t know” too much.

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Going To the Crossroads

Some years ago, I was walking through the room while my girlfriend was watching “Supernatural”. Something about the episode caught my attention, and rather to my surprise, I sat down and watched it.

The story happened to be one I know, and know well: that of Robert Johnson, who reputedly sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his insane talent, playing blues guitar. Now, the television show and the legend were a bit different, and the truth of the matter is stranger still. I’ll tell you all about those in a minute.

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Why Colonize Mars?

“Because it’s there!”
-George Mallory, English mountaineer

Mars is a barren wasteland devoid of life. There’s nothing there, even less than in the average Earth desert. There is no air to breathe, no water, no arable soil on which to grow crops. It’s just a big empty ball of dust and rock.

A lot of people ask (and with good reason): Instead of wasting massive amounts of valuable resources on some dream project with no apparent value, dumping tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in the process, why not instead spend the money improving life here on Earth?

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Have you ever heard of the John J. Harvey?

I ran across this story a while ago, and it’s too good not to share. Hold fast, friends; this is quite a ride.

The John J. Harvey, shown here, is a museum ship now. For a nominal fee, you can book an excursion trip on her and experience how she rides. It’s worth the price of admission, even if she’s no longer painted in dazzle camouflage these days. (Presumably, it was so fire couldn’t find her.)

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