Don Sergent

donsergent's Blog Home of Alphabet Seeds, a blog by a retired journalist who refuses to stop writing about the world as he sees it..

ifederalist.wordpress.com

Don’t laugh at the laughable It’s not funny anymore. Sure, watching the leader of the free world embarrass himself and our country with incoherent, contentious, fallacious tirades at the United Nations and on social media can …

My latest Alphabet Seeds blog post. It’s not for giggles. ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/11/01/d...

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ICE’s Budget Just Tripled. What’s Next? | KQED We talk to Garrett Graff about the implications of a radically expanded ICE.

This is, I think, the third time I've posted it since I happened to hear it live in July, but here's historian/author @vermontgmg.bsky.social predicting with chilling accuracy what would happen as ICE quickly ramped up its recruiting.

www.kqed.org/forum/201010...

Cue the tanks. It’s halftime. Chalk this up to my senior-citizen hearing loss. I was excited when I heard who was headlining the Super Bowl LX halftime show. I imagined a life-size Bugs Bunny outwitting Elmer Fudd and Yosemite …

My latest Alphabet Seeds post. I hope you enjoy it. Like, share, and subscribe if you’re so inclined. ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/10/23/c...

How much is enough? We’ll call her Yolanda, but the name isn’t as important as her words and actions. A sixty-ish woman whose ragged clothing and unkempt hair attested to her need, she came to the food pantry where I …

My latest post on my “Alphabet Seeds” blog. I hope you like it. ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/10/18/h...

Hakeem Jeffries Says Leavitt Is Either “Demented” or “Stone Cold Liar”
Source: The New Republic

More people are using ChatGPT like a lawyer in court. Some are starting to win. With generative AI tools available to anyone with an internet connection, a rising number of litigants are using ChatGPT to assist in their legal cases.

www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Undocumented alien phones home News of an interstellar object in our solar system shifted my brain’s right hemisphere into hyperdrive. This is the unfortunate result. My close encounter of the third kind started innocently enoug…

ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/u...

Undocumented alien phones home News of an interstellar object in our solar system shifted my brain’s right hemisphere into hyperdrive. This is the unfortunate result. My close encounter of the third kind started innocently enoug…

My latest blog post is out of this world. Read it here: ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/u...

Earning my senior discount I’m wide awake in the wee hours of a weeknight, the oversized numbers on our digital clock telling me it’s 2:14 a.m. It’s almost like I’m back in college. Only there’s no final exam to study for or…

A new blog post. I hope you like it.

ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/e...

Strolling through dystopia Fog hangs over the soybean field near my home as I head out for a walk. It’s so early the streets are quiet and even the robins and wrens aren’t fully awake. It’s my perfect time, full of promise a…

My latest blog post. I hope you enjoy it. ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/09/22/s...

Moose musings A momma moose gave me pause as she paused in a shallow Wyoming creek. All this second cousin to a deer wanted to do was munch on water lilies and aspen branches and perhaps cool her hooves in the m…

My latest blog post: ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/09/15/m...

Beauty is all around us. Seek it out.

Love and protect our natural beauty.

Take time to enjoy the beauty around you.

Opinion | RFK Jr. cannot be contained The ouster of Susan Monarez from the CDC is an ominous sign for American public health.

"Kennedy’s decision to oust Susan Monarez as director of the CDC over disagreements on vaccine policy proves that no one will provide an effective check on Kennedy — not Republican senators, not thoughtful leaders at HHS and certainly not President Donald Trump."

From the Editorial Board:

Enjoy the beauty around you.

Memories of fudge You park your walker near the stove in your tiny kitchen, checking on some cornbread you insist on baking simply because you have company. I breathe in the familiar aroma, and yet I see and smell a…

A creative nonfiction piece for my latest blog post. I hope you enjoy it. ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/08/25/m...

Milking time with Mamaw Throwing some flash fiction into the mix today. I hope you like it. The glow of a carbide lamp was enhanced by moonlight to guide me as I trudged to Mamaw Thelmie’s. Five o’clock was too early to b…

Delving into some flash fiction with my latest blog post: ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/08/25/m...

Lies, damn lies, and statistics I’m a Cincinnati Reds fan, which by definition means I’m a silver-lining, glass-half-full kind of guy. Lately, though, I’ve learned to become more of a Pollyanna despite living in an age of ominous…

ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/08/25/l...

Conservative network Newsmax agrees to pay $67M in defamation case over bogus 2020 election claims The conservative network Newsmax will pay $67 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of defaming a voting equipment company by spreading lies about President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss, accord...

www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Outdoor classroom You chase after butterflies, your toddler gait zigzagging more than usual in your quest to corral a Black Swallowtail or Great Spangled Fritillary. You run after rabbits, gleefully galloping on all…

My latest blog, a bit of a departure from my usual ramblings:

ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/o...

Let’s kick this ball back where it came from Dear Mr. President: To help you in your quest to make America great again, I would like to offer an idea for an executive order sure to return the USA to a past when our dominance in the field of t…

ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/08/08/l...

Orwellian press conference Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to today’s presidential press conference. You will notice that we have more space in the briefing room today. We have implemented cost-saving measure…

My latest blog post:

ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/08/07/o...

Like this photo? Vote now! America’s Favorite Photos: Discover your new favorite photos!

Please vote for my photo in the America’s Favorite Photos competition: AmericasFavoritePhotos.com/v/px7qs2

Mount Rushmore Needs a Facelift Mount Rushmore needs a facelift. Our president told us so. Others behold the 84-year-old South Dakota national memorial and ask, “Why?” I look at the Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lin…

ifederalist.wordpress.com/2025/08/04/m...

My satirical take on one of our president’s aspirations.

Written a decade ago, this is as timely as ever.

A government without newspapers? “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” — T…

ifederalist.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/a...

Give peacefulness a chance.