From A Book That Will Never Be Completed

Photo courtesy JP Stanley

"Olyxas' brilliant double companion sun was in conjunction with the primary, two of its three moons would not rise until after midnight, and the third—the smallest—would not break the eastern horizon for an hour or more after my arrival, so that night was, indeed, very dark. As I powered down the speeder, parked, and walked out onto one of the piers, I looked up to see the hazy band of the galaxy stretching overhead in the western half of the sky from northern to southern horizon. And hanging in front of that glittering tapestry, forming a huge arc like a string of brilliant blue-white diamonds, six nearby supergiant stars curved eastward across the sky. In a later life, on a different world, I would call three of them Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, but the names I used for them then eluded me. Despite my best efforts, I was still unable to trace out any meaningful constellations upon this strange night sky, and in fact I wondered exactly what constellations would've grown out of legends and mythology if an indigenous sentient race had arisen on—instead of been transplanted to—this world." ~ From a Book I Started Writing in 1978 That Will Never Be Completed

Quote of the Day

Some people bring out the worst in you, others bring out the best, and then there are those remarkably rare, addictive ones who just bring out the most. Of everything. They make you feel so alive that you'd follow them straight into hell." ~ Karen Marie Moning

Quote of the Day

Our hearts resemble houses constructed by our parents. When we're young and something breaks they repair the damage. As we get older we learn how to maintain and protect our own houses. First we have to learn how to welcome guests. We may deliberately allow them to enter our intimate lives. Some stay a short time and others stay longer. Some may damage our home or even steal from us. Still, in the end we each need someone to love our home and to become a part of it." ~ Bammer

Happy Legal Paperwork Day!

I meant to post this last Saturday, but I got distracted and it was left languishing in "drafts." So here it is now.

Six years ago Ben and I did our part to destroy western civilization, but somehow, despite our best efforts, it still survives. I don't know what I did to deserve the happiness he's given me since our paths first crossed, but here's to another sixty (or some, more realistic multiple of six) years of the same.

Donald Trump Phones Ukraine's President

Trump: "Nice country you have there. Beautiful people. Women."

Trump: "I'd hate to see something bad happen to such a … such the best place. All the bad things. Very bad."

….

Trump: "I'd hate for my not-best friend Vlad to get the upper hand in your war with Russia. I'd love to release all that military and economic aid we promised. But, you know, corruption. Sleepy Joe Biden."

….

Trump: "Thank you, Ukraine man. So good. So loyal."

The end.

Source.

Donald Trump vs. The United States

Sometimes it's worth stepping back to look at the full picture.

He has pressured a foreign leader to interfere in the 2020 American presidential election.

He urged a foreign country to intervene in the 2016 presidential election.

He divulged classified information to foreign officials.

He publicly undermined American intelligence agents while standing next to a hostile foreign autocrat.

He hired a national security adviser who he knew had secretly worked as a foreign lobbyist.

He encourages foreign leaders to enrich him and his family by staying at his hotels.

He genuflects to murderous dictators.

He has alienated America's closest allies.

He lied to the American people about his company's business dealings in Russia.

He tells new lies virtually every week — about the economy, voter fraud, even the weather.

He spends hours on end watching television and days on end staying at resorts.

He often declines to read briefing books or perform other basic functions of a president's job.

He has aides, as well as members of his own party in Congress, who mock him behind his back as unfit for office.

He has repeatedly denigrated a deceased United States senator who was a war hero.

He insulted a Gold Star family — the survivors of American troops killed in action.

He described a former first lady, not long after she died, as "nasty."

He described white supremacists as "some very fine people."

He told four women of color, all citizens and members of Congress, to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came."

He made a joke about Pocahontas during a ceremony honoring Native American World War II veterans.

He launched his political career by falsely claiming that the first black president was not really American.

He launched his presidential campaign by describing Mexicans as "rapists."

He has described women, variously, as "a dog," "a pig" and "horseface," as well as "bleeding badly from a facelift" and having "blood coming out of her wherever."

He has been accused of sexual assault or misconduct by multiple women.

He enthusiastically campaigned for a Senate candidate who was accused of molesting multiple teenage girls.

He waved around his arms, while giving a speech, to ridicule a physically disabled person.

He has encouraged his supporters to commit violence against his political opponents.

He has called for his opponents and critics to be investigated and jailed.

He uses a phrase popular with dictators — "the enemy of the people" — to describe journalists.

He attempts to undermine any independent source of information that he does not like, including judges, scientists, journalists, election officials, the F.B.I., the C.I.A., the Congressional Budget Office and the National Weather Service.

He has tried to harass the chairman of the Federal Reserve into lowering interest rates.

He said that a judge could not be objective because of his Mexican heritage.

He obstructed justice by trying to influence an investigation into his presidential campaign.

He violated federal law by directing his lawyer to pay $280,000 in hush money to cover up two apparent extramarital affairs.

He made his fortune partly through wide-scale financial fraud.

He has refused to release his tax returns.

He falsely accused his predecessor of wiretapping him.

He claimed that federal law-enforcement agents and prosecutors regularly fabricated evidence, thereby damaging the credibility of criminal investigations across the country.

He has ordered children to be physically separated from their parents.

He has suggested that America is no different from or better than Vladimir Putin's Russia.

He has called America a "hellhole."

He is the president of the United States, and he is a threat to virtually everything that the United States should stand for.

Source.