We live in strange times but also very informative ones, don’t we? Still, I’m finding that little dog just the thing that makes me smile right now. Know that I am grateful for him (or her!) Liza.
The dog looks alarmingly like our very plump Pug, Edith Elizabeth. 😬
_______
I wrote this last night during a fitful bout of insomnia.
A dystopian fictional journal entry set in the future:
>March 15, 2025<
I don’t know if keeping a journal is helping me stay focused or driving me into insanity.
Biden won the 2024 election but no safeguards were in place to protect his second term. We thought voting would be enough. It wasn’t. The GOP won enough seats nationally and statewide so Project 2025 was launched and here we are in a hellscape that George Orwell couldn’t even imagine.
The Supreme Court voted to give Trump blanket immunity so he is in all but name the dictator of this country.
The America I once knew has been swallowed by a beast of its own making, a grotesque caricature of democracy twisted beyond recognition. The nightmare began when Congress, in a move that would make Machiavelli blush, overturned the 2024 election results. Trump, the supposed loser, was declared the victor. What followed was a rapid descent into a bleak dystopia.
The first casualty was women's rights. Birth control and abortion, stripped of legality, have driven women into the shadows for dangerous, clandestine procedures. Clinics have been shuttered, as if the clock had been turned back to a more barbaric age.
Healthcare, a once-unquestioned safety net, has been ripped to shreds. Public health services are gutted, and pre-existing condition protections are a distant memory. I live in perpetual fear of illness, knowing we can't afford treatment. The rich grow fatter on the spoils while the rest of us face the abyss.
As a married lesbian couple, we navigate a minefield of bigotry daily. Protections against discrimination have evaporated. Employers and businesses flaunt their prejudice openly. Hate crimes are not just on the rise; they are tacitly encouraged. We live with the constant specter of losing our home or jobs, persecuted for the simple fact of our love.
Voting rights have been butchered. Draconian laws have made the ballot box a mirage for many, especially minorities and the elderly. Endless lines, strict ID requirements, and shuttered polling places silence countless voices. Democracy itself feels like a relic, replaced by an autocratic regime that thrives on fear and suppression.
Environmental protections have been obliterated. Factories spew toxins with impunity, and rivers flow with poison. The regime scoffs at climate change, abandoning efforts to stave off disaster. The future we envisioned for our grandchildren now seems perilously uncertain.
Workers' rights are a fading dream. Safety regulations have been dismantled, leading to more workplace injuries. Fair wages are an anachronism, and discrimination in the workplace runs rampant. The younger generation faces a grim reality of harsh labor conditions and dwindling hope.
Public education is in ruins. The Department of Education has been eradicated, replaced by a narrow, conservative curriculum. Critical thinking and diverse perspectives are eradicated. Our grandchildren are denied the broad, inclusive education we once took for granted.
Social services, lifelines for so many, have been eviscerated. Food assistance and housing support programs have disappeared, leaving countless families on the brink of survival. The sense of community and mutual aid has disintegrated, replaced by a pervasive, gnawing desperation.
Surveillance has metastasized, spreading an ever-present sense of dread. Policing powers have ballooned, and privacy is a quaint notion of the past. Every move we make is under scrutiny, our freedoms strangled by a constant, oppressive watchfulness.
The most direct threat, though, is to our very existence. The regime has made it clear that people like us are not welcome. Hate crimes surge unchecked, with the government often looking the other way or stoking the fires of hostility. Conversion therapies have resurfaced, and safe spaces for LGBTQ+ people are vanishing. We live in perpetual fear of being torn apart or assaulted simply for who we are.
One night, a sign of was bolted into the curb in front of our house “Homosexuals live here” delivered a stark message: we are no longer safe. The police, emboldened by new laws, dismissed our pleas for help. "You people should know better than to talk up your queer lifestyle," one officer sneered. We are left to fend for ourselves in a hostile world where survival is a daily struggle.
I can't help but think back. We should have sold our house and fled to Canada when we had the chance, but we didn't believe it could really happen. We voted. But we ignored the warnings, failed to heed the signs. Now, we are trapped in a country that no longer feels like home, fighting to survive in a world that has turned against us. Every regret, every moment of disbelief, haunts us as we face an uncertain, perilous future.
If only we had done more than vote hoping for the best, trusting our Democratic Party and the Biden administration to be militarily and civilly united to ensure no repeat of January 2021.
Well that is horrifying, yet unfortunately not unimaginable. Oh my, this dream has voiced the fear that voting will not matter to MAGA or our Supreme Court.
We live in South Carolina now, and it red run state like we never had before experienced.
Oh my.
Now Liza will have to draw at least 100 dogs for me.
Thanks for showing us a dog who looks like a pig who's riding the subway. Other riders were probably looking at the pooch and thinking, Yikes, that dog looks like a pig. Anyway so, it's disheartening that because the orange man does whatever he wants with little repercussions, so many others feel like, it's okay; we can do stuff, too. And so many of these slashes at our democracy are perpetrated by people like Alito who rub it in our faces, as much as saying, You can't do a damn thing about it, can you? And, the scary, awful thing is ... at this point in time, we can't. But I believe in the outcome of David and Goliath... God, the real God, and not the god of the orange man's bogus Bible, is on the side of David. I also believe that Karma is a female dog.
We live in strange times but also very informative ones, don’t we? Still, I’m finding that little dog just the thing that makes me smile right now. Know that I am grateful for him (or her!) Liza.
Yes, the dog adds so much! Good eye and comment
Well put. Interesting and informative. Thanks, Patris!
Thanks for the subway drawing.
Flags? Why an issue today and not at the time they were hoisted?
I don't think they were noticed by the media!
Another wonderful drawing - almost can hear the conversation between the two ladies. And the dog!
Alito and Thomas lied during their confirmation. That should be sufficient to remove them
The dog looks alarmingly like our very plump Pug, Edith Elizabeth. 😬
_______
I wrote this last night during a fitful bout of insomnia.
A dystopian fictional journal entry set in the future:
>March 15, 2025<
I don’t know if keeping a journal is helping me stay focused or driving me into insanity.
Biden won the 2024 election but no safeguards were in place to protect his second term. We thought voting would be enough. It wasn’t. The GOP won enough seats nationally and statewide so Project 2025 was launched and here we are in a hellscape that George Orwell couldn’t even imagine.
The Supreme Court voted to give Trump blanket immunity so he is in all but name the dictator of this country.
The America I once knew has been swallowed by a beast of its own making, a grotesque caricature of democracy twisted beyond recognition. The nightmare began when Congress, in a move that would make Machiavelli blush, overturned the 2024 election results. Trump, the supposed loser, was declared the victor. What followed was a rapid descent into a bleak dystopia.
The first casualty was women's rights. Birth control and abortion, stripped of legality, have driven women into the shadows for dangerous, clandestine procedures. Clinics have been shuttered, as if the clock had been turned back to a more barbaric age.
Healthcare, a once-unquestioned safety net, has been ripped to shreds. Public health services are gutted, and pre-existing condition protections are a distant memory. I live in perpetual fear of illness, knowing we can't afford treatment. The rich grow fatter on the spoils while the rest of us face the abyss.
As a married lesbian couple, we navigate a minefield of bigotry daily. Protections against discrimination have evaporated. Employers and businesses flaunt their prejudice openly. Hate crimes are not just on the rise; they are tacitly encouraged. We live with the constant specter of losing our home or jobs, persecuted for the simple fact of our love.
Voting rights have been butchered. Draconian laws have made the ballot box a mirage for many, especially minorities and the elderly. Endless lines, strict ID requirements, and shuttered polling places silence countless voices. Democracy itself feels like a relic, replaced by an autocratic regime that thrives on fear and suppression.
Environmental protections have been obliterated. Factories spew toxins with impunity, and rivers flow with poison. The regime scoffs at climate change, abandoning efforts to stave off disaster. The future we envisioned for our grandchildren now seems perilously uncertain.
Workers' rights are a fading dream. Safety regulations have been dismantled, leading to more workplace injuries. Fair wages are an anachronism, and discrimination in the workplace runs rampant. The younger generation faces a grim reality of harsh labor conditions and dwindling hope.
Public education is in ruins. The Department of Education has been eradicated, replaced by a narrow, conservative curriculum. Critical thinking and diverse perspectives are eradicated. Our grandchildren are denied the broad, inclusive education we once took for granted.
Social services, lifelines for so many, have been eviscerated. Food assistance and housing support programs have disappeared, leaving countless families on the brink of survival. The sense of community and mutual aid has disintegrated, replaced by a pervasive, gnawing desperation.
Surveillance has metastasized, spreading an ever-present sense of dread. Policing powers have ballooned, and privacy is a quaint notion of the past. Every move we make is under scrutiny, our freedoms strangled by a constant, oppressive watchfulness.
The most direct threat, though, is to our very existence. The regime has made it clear that people like us are not welcome. Hate crimes surge unchecked, with the government often looking the other way or stoking the fires of hostility. Conversion therapies have resurfaced, and safe spaces for LGBTQ+ people are vanishing. We live in perpetual fear of being torn apart or assaulted simply for who we are.
One night, a sign of was bolted into the curb in front of our house “Homosexuals live here” delivered a stark message: we are no longer safe. The police, emboldened by new laws, dismissed our pleas for help. "You people should know better than to talk up your queer lifestyle," one officer sneered. We are left to fend for ourselves in a hostile world where survival is a daily struggle.
I can't help but think back. We should have sold our house and fled to Canada when we had the chance, but we didn't believe it could really happen. We voted. But we ignored the warnings, failed to heed the signs. Now, we are trapped in a country that no longer feels like home, fighting to survive in a world that has turned against us. Every regret, every moment of disbelief, haunts us as we face an uncertain, perilous future.
If only we had done more than vote hoping for the best, trusting our Democratic Party and the Biden administration to be militarily and civilly united to ensure no repeat of January 2021.
Well that is horrifying, yet unfortunately not unimaginable. Oh my, this dream has voiced the fear that voting will not matter to MAGA or our Supreme Court.
We live in South Carolina now, and it red run state like we never had before experienced.
Oh my.
Now Liza will have to draw at least 100 dogs for me.
Thank God for Liza. Her pen is a mighty sword and it tells a thousand word story in a simple image. How mighty is that?!?
Thank you, Gloria! I wish!
I'm on it!
Thank you! Your dog must be so cute!
Don't forget the re-education camps in the desert South-West, they'll be opened in 2026.
Will they have cable?
Yes. Nonstop indoctrination vids.
No doubt whatsoever - but they’ll have to prop our eyelids open ala clockwork Orange…
Shockingly, yes! There will be high-voltage cable around the entire perimeter.
Ah! Two distinct meanings for the word “cable” with neither having a good connection.
No additional comment required:
https://unwokeindianaag.substack.com/p/quick-take-the-left-is-vexed
If by vexed you mean disgusted at the sheer stupidity, ok
Truth
You are the poster boy for everything that’s wrong in this country.
As long as our ridiculous president remains among us, that can never be so. Thanks, however, for your waste-of-space comment.
Thanks for showing us a dog who looks like a pig who's riding the subway. Other riders were probably looking at the pooch and thinking, Yikes, that dog looks like a pig. Anyway so, it's disheartening that because the orange man does whatever he wants with little repercussions, so many others feel like, it's okay; we can do stuff, too. And so many of these slashes at our democracy are perpetrated by people like Alito who rub it in our faces, as much as saying, You can't do a damn thing about it, can you? And, the scary, awful thing is ... at this point in time, we can't. But I believe in the outcome of David and Goliath... God, the real God, and not the god of the orange man's bogus Bible, is on the side of David. I also believe that Karma is a female dog.
Thank you, KittyLiterate.
Love the dog! More dogs please!!
Impeachment?
I imagine someone is working on that.
A Supreme Court Justice can be impeached. But it isn’t easy. https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/alitos-second-flag-is-even-worse?r=pal7t&utm_medium=ios
Thanks, Andy.