Don't just embrace the crazy, sidle up next to it and lick its ear.
The war on drugs is a joke. We spend $40 billion a year, and the proof that it's a failure is that any kid can get almost any drug they want in any city in America within half an hour. -- David Sheff, American author "Price of Fentanyl will rise sharply" Pretty big talk from a ketamine addict, but okay. That was the Unelected Billionaire Guy who self-admits he can't comprehend social interaction,…
Last year I spent three months waiting to see if I had cancer or not. The doctors were all pretty sure I had it. And it was going to be the kind that I probably wouldn't survive. Then, they were finally able to complete a test and I woke up from the procedure and ... didn't have cancer. Just totally didn't have it. You can go, the doctor said. We don't need to see you again for ten years. It took…
Out of the ruins Out from the wreckage Can't make the same mistake this time We are the children The last generation (the last generation, generation) We are the ones they left behind And, I wonder when we are ever gonna change, change Mad Max. The third one, I think. Two men enter, one man leaves, that one. The one with post apocalyptic Tina Turner -- which is mostly just regular Tina Turner, but…
Poor man wanna be rich Rich man wanna be king And a king ain't satisfied 'till he rules everything -- Bruce Springsteen , Badlands Thus ends The Republic. Hail! Mr. President. It should never have come to this, But, hey, at least democracy was fun while it lasted. I made a pithy comment. A couple of them actually, as is my wont. Well, maybe not so much pithy as bitterly sardonic observations on…
The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it. -- Brandolini's Law , also: The Bullshit Asymmetry Principle I can't say I'm surprised. The debate was ugly right from the introductions. Bash and Tapper looked like they were presiding over an execution. Biden started out with a persistent cough and sounded like he had a cold. To be…
A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons. -- Hillary Clinton Has Donald Trump pulled out yet? That's a Stormy Daniels reference. Ba dump bump! Huh? Huh? Okay. Sorry, to start out with a dick joke, but I'm jacked up on espresso this morning. But, seriously, has Trump pulled out of the debate yet? It's fascinating watching Republicans frantically opening an…
A man who neglects his rights as a citizen is not entitled to his rights as a citizen -- Tiorio Joe Biden doesn't inspire me. Said I, ironically. I said it on social media yesterday (that's a screenshot of the offending post on one of the platforms where I said it) I said the same a week ago in a similar post. I'll probably say it again at some future date and for the same reasons. Joe Biden…
"The spear, the bow, the gun, and finally the guided missile had given him weapons of infinite range and all but infinite power. Without those weapons, often though he had used them against himself, Man would never have conquered his world. Into them he had put his heart and soul, and for ages they had served him well. But now, as long as they existed, he was living on borrowed time." ― Arthur C.…
"The only evidence I see of the antichrist here is everyone's desire to see him at work." -- William of Baskerville , The Name of the Rose God will not save us. If that's what you were hoping for, you're going to be disappointed. Your deity will not save the Republic and it's not like he promised to anyway. Either he's not up there, or he doesn't much care. Or, more likely, he's a Republican and…
Greetings from your friendly internet writer. Yes, writer. A few years back, I wouldn’t have believed this possible. A few years back it wouldn’t have been possible. But despite the sneering complaints of certain vocal critics, it is possible for a writer to make a modest living this way. It used to be “writer” was defined as somebody who assembled words and ideas into books, short stories,…
Headlines this morning: Biden's poll numbers continue to fall despite surging economy! Oh no! What are we gonna do! CNN has a whole panel of earnest looking talking heads enthusiastically opining on the subject. Dire! Woe! Terrible! The End is Near! It's the same over on Fox, except the talking heads are all gleeful and showing a lot of cleavage. My social media feeds are clogged with MAGAs (or…
I spent most of November in Michigan. Which isn't a bad time of year to spend in the Midwest. November is fall colors and migrating birds and apple cider and hay rides. Pretty great if you're a photographer. Pretty good if you're not a photographer too. Not great for my mobile bandwidth though. I tend to take a lot of pictures. Given that I make a not insignificant fraction of my income from…
I turned seven in 1973 and remember Bobby Riggs arriving at the Astrodome on a chariot pulled by showgirls before his "Battle of the sexes" tennis match against Billie Jean King. -- Steve Rushin , Sportswriter, Novelist I swore I wouldn't do it. I did. I promised myself I wouldn't watch the damn dumb thing. I told people: I'm not watching the Republican debate. It's just stupid. It's not even a…
This week, I'll start of with some industrial architectural shots. Just in case you're tired of all those colorful bird pictures I usually post. This is the Pensacola Bay Bridge, typically called the Three Mile Bridge by locals, across Escambia Bay between Pensacola and Gulf Breeze. Officially it's the General "Chappie" James Jr. Bridge, but I don't know anyone who actually calls it that. We had…
“What's to be believed? Or does it matter at all? When mass murder's been answered with mass murder, rape with rape, hate with hate, there's no longer much meaning in asking whose ax is bloodier. Evil, on evil, piled on evil.” ― Walter M. Miller Jr. , A Canticle for Leibowitz Pick a side. Come on, choose. Tell me, who do you stand with? You have to pick a side and you have to declare it to the…
Summer is coming to an end and many North America birds are beginning their annual migration south. And so it was for me this week, traveling from north to south, Michigan to Florida. I was in Michigan's Lower Peninsula, in farming country south of Grand Rapids along the Thornapple River. The place used to be a mill town long ago with a dam on the river creating a miles-long pond to power the…
I don't usually post notices of sales on my store here on the blog. Or I haven't in the past. I don't know why. Laziness probably. Posting the notices to social media was much easier. But with the ongoing collapse of social media, I figured it was time to start. So: Announcing this month's Stonekettle Pen Sale! I've been on the road or deathly ill for the last few months. As such, it's been a…
Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest? -- Henry II , 1170, referring to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket (four knights subsequently murdered Becket, interpreting the King's comment as an order) Well, we've apparently reached the "Kill All The Military Professionals" stage of the Revolution. That's, of course, the leading Republican candidate for president, Donald Trump, on his…
New feature. The Week In Pictures As many of you likely know, in addition to being a writer, I'm also a photographer. I've been told I'm reasonably decent at both, but I'll leave that up to you. Anyway: I'm going start posting a summary of the previous week's photography here on Stonekettle Station. I typically post images I take as I go on social media, but not everyone follows me on those…
There's no problem that can't be ignored if we really put our minds to it! -- His Majesty Ralph Jones , King Ralph Stop me if you've heard this one. Talk about a bad joke. The leading Republican candidate for President of the United States is a unrepentant seditionist currently under criminal indictment in four jurisdictions (and likely soon to be five), charged with nearly a hundred major…
Edit : Twitter X has become increasingly antisemitic, actively promoting and agreeing with antisemitic conspiracies and allowing advertising and promoted posts from self-declared white supremacists. Elon Musk's latest open Antisemitism is the last straw. I will no longer post my material there. I'll keep my profile as a placeholder, until that's no longer permitted. And I'll post links to my other…
I had assumed that I would age with all my friends growing old around me, dying off very gradually one by one. And here was a plague that cut them off so early. -- Thom Gunn As some of you have noted, I've been meaner than usual recently. I'm told it's been noticeable over the last week or so on my various social media feeds. I don't dispute that. Nor do I apologize for it -- though interestingly…
Why is “Phoney” (Like in PERFECT “PHONE” CALL, get it?) Fani Willis, the severely underperforming D.A. of Fulton County who is being accused of having an “affair” with a Gang Member of a group that she is prosecuting, leaking my name in regard to a Grand Jury pertaining to Election Fraud & Irregularities that I say took place in Georgia. I made a PERFECT PHONE CALL OF PROTEST. What does Phoney…
“They want to be the agents, not the victims, of history. They identify with God's power and believe they are godlike. That is their basic madness. They are overcome by some archetype; their egos have expanded psychotically so that they cannot tell where they begin and the godhead leaves off. It is not hubris, not pride; it is inflation of the ego to its ultimate confusion between him who worships…
"You furnish the pictures. I'll furnish the war." -- William Randolph Hearst to Frederick Remington Spanish American War (possibly apocryphal) In America, the media is driven by profit. Profit. Not a sense of duty. Not patriotism. And certainly not the truth. Profit. Like everything else in this country. The bigger the controversy, the bigger the conspiracy, the bigger the car crash, the bigger…