Defiant Cicada 🇺🇸 🦅🌊

Oh! And if you'd like a well-primed beta reader, please keep me in mind!

No way! That's cool. I tried over the years to figure out what the title was or exactly where I'd read it. I hope it gives you encouragement to know that someone has remembered the gist and feel of it all this time, if not the name or author. I look forward to seeing what else happens.

Hey, Glen. Weird query time. I *think* your short story Damsel has been living vaguely in my mind for 30 years. Was it about an awkward princess who attracts one little skink? Published in Story magazine? 1995ish? Gonna get my ref local librarian to help me track down. Need to read it again. Yours?

Minnesotans are badass! No sleds required. They just rawdog that ice sheet. 🫡🫡🫡

They voted for this: less environmental regulation, lower estate taxes, no farm worker protection, no food safety inspection, no change to below minimum wage farm wages, & the knowledge that they'll get bailouts. Do not pity the farmers.

I picked light blue. 2nd place is okay.

A situation bad enough to make Eminem inarticulate is dire indeed.

Engineers?

Call it the Epstein ballroom.

Well, you can be pretty sure that there's always some insane Trump staffer no one's heard of starting international beef. That's pretty much their whole strategy.

Mr. Rogers was speaking to children when he said that. Adults need to BE helpers, not look for them.

At this point, anyone still presuming that faith leaders are decent people - rather than the grifters, pedophiles, & abusers they are - is an idiot. It's precisely the high concentration of credulous idiots in faith communities that makes them so attractive to criminals.

Just got home from this!

That would be the ideal, yeah. HIPPA should prevent them from asking any q's. But with the threats of legal action hanging over the entire pharmacy for improper distribution, & one moderately committed anti-vaxxer employee, how's that gonna play out on the ground?

I am pro-vax and take every one I can scrounge up. I've also seen quite serious, MD-diagnosed, vaccine injuries in 3 family members, 2 of them requiring hospitalization, and 1 permanently devastating. Seeing those up close is really scary, but I still know the odds favor the shots.

Interesting, cuz he waited through Biden's entire presidency. The government's had the file since the orange shitgibbon's first term. Why now?

No, he doesn't. That was a bare-minimum walk-back for PR reasons. And his words already inspired a mass shooting attack against homeless encampments in MN.

Just imagine what that AH says when the cameras aren't rolling.

Is anyone still pretending that American Christians model themselves, their values, or their actions on Christ? That's no longer amusing. It's grotesque. And we non-christians see you all for what you are.

In times like this, I am even more thankful I do not accept the weak-minded, hateful spirit constantly surrounding us.

Show me a religion that doesn't use scare tactics or threats, and do its best to worm its way into government. I'll wait.

In other words, British working class stiff showed more courage and principles than top US law firms, media conglomerates, ivy league schools, or pretty much any elected representative at any level.

Republicans claimed Christianity as their own, which has been the religion of covering for child grapers for a long, long time. This totally checks out. They're genuine Christians.

You ever been to Iran? It's a pretty decent place given that it's a corrupt theocracy. And really, as an American, can I point any fingers? There are lots of places I'd hate living more than Iran.

You'll get a pass on all of those if you're a white supremacist or a billionaire, though of course none of them hurt your chances at all.

The ancient Egyptians might not have had a catchy name for it, but they did it first. Records about the worst criminals didn't use a name, just referred to the person as "Amon-hates-him," or "Ptah-cursed-her." We have no idea what names they used before that. Think that could work?

I think I'm qualified to answer: nope.

"No shit, Nick. It's equal part hilarious and fucking tragic that you're just figuring this out now."

TACO. And in this case he won't even chicken out. He knows he can't withstand discovery. Standard routine. He'll just abuse the courts to abuse the press. The cases will be dropped before depositions and/or discovery.