There’s Nothing More Unnerving Than Being Blocked On Twitter By Someone You’ve Never Interacted With

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It happened again. I am blocked by someone I’ve never interacted with on Twitter. And, this time, it’s even more unnerving because it’s someone I ostensibly agree with politically.

There are a few possible reasons for why this happened:

  1. For You Page
    It’s possible that because I showed up on their For You Page on Twitter they blocked me because I re-tweeted a hot chick or something. Something where I was being harmless but they reacted to what they saw in a way that caused them to block me.
  2. Mueller, She Wrote
    They could be friends with the hyper-sensitive Mueller, She Wrote and she is bad mouthing me to everyone she can find.
  3. “Hysterical Doom Shit”
    It could be that they just don’t like all my “hysterical doom shit” that I peddle about Trump.
  4. They think I’m a kook.
    This could be just another example of the “Kook Tax” at work. I’m being punished for being “colorful.”

Trump’s Destruction of The Free Press May End Not With A Bang, But With a Whimper

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing about Trump is he is easy to both overestimate and underestimate. You just never quite know what the fucking tyrant is going to do. It’s the same way with the free press. It could be that he is able to rub his two brain cells together in such a way that the average person won’t even notice that the United States no longer has a free press.

Behind the scenes, he will use a combination of plutocrat shenanigans and pressure to subtly shift the tenor of American press coverage of his tyrannical administration. We’ll just wake up one day and late night talk shows will have been purged and strangely the new hosts wont talk about politics in their monologues anymore and if they do, they simply sound like something you might see on Fox News. SNL will be cancelled simply because Lorne Michaels has retired and that will be that.

That’s if we’re lucky.

If we’re NOT lucky, Tyrant Trump will be far more direct and ham-handed in his attack on the free press. If Tyrant Trump goes about things THAT way, then…oh boy. We’re going to the show. Because to attack the free press in a direct way would bump up against American self-perception of “living in a free country” AND it would provide ready media-friendly martyrs.

Remember, all of this would be happening the context of Trump strangling lady liberty in an already rather brazen manner. So…lulz? I don’t know what to tell you, folks. Keep the faith. Things could get pretty bumpy starting in late 2024, early 2025.

What If Trump Just Refuses To Leave Office?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

All of this is extremely speculative — Trump hasn’t even become president again — but it is clear that he wants to rule the United States has nothing short of a military dictator given the opportunity. Even though he will be old as hell by the end of his second term, he is so stupid and so lazy he could still destroy the country by simply living long enough to destroy the Constitution.

If we’re lucky, he will at least demand a Constitutional Convention to enshrine America First agenda in a legal way. If we’re not lucky, he will simply do whatever the fuck he wants and use his pardon power on himself and others to get away with it.

This is the point where MAGA people call me insane and tell me to “stop drinking varnish.” I will note that such MAGA people seem to want it both ways. They support a man who tells us all in no uncertain terms what tyrannical things he wants to do…then they get upset when people like me take him both literally and seriously.

Don’t quite know what to do about that.

But the issue remains — a second Trump Administration could be the thing that single handedly not only destroys America, but causes WW3 to happen. I’m not kidding. That is a real possibility. Trump could be responsible for the death of at least 1 billion people if any number of nuclear-tipped regional conflicts went hot.

I stand by my belief that one day Trump and MAGA will be just as loaded and controversial as Hitler and the Nazis.

America’s Hybrid Political Future Under Tyrant Trump

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Tyrant Trump plans to rule America under a hybrid of autocracy and military dictatorship. Receptive Red States will be governed under autocracy, while Blue portions of the country will get the full force of the military rod.

But there are a lot of problems with all of this, no matter how much Trump’s toadies may think they have everything figured out.

The key thing is, none of this is going to happen in a political vacuum. Trump can invoke the Insurrection Act all he wants to, but, in the end, the U.S. Military is not the Nazi SA and isn’t going to act as such. At its heart, the U.S. Military is made up of men and women who believe in democracy.

As such, there’s every reason to believe that if push comes to shove that not even the U.S. Military will be spared a cleaving between MAGA and Blues. It could be that Trump is such a malignant dumbass that he manages to destroy every single nation-wide institution in the United States, even the U.S. Military. That’s pretty deep, but also looking very possible.

I don’t know what to tell you, folks. American democracy either transitions into a hybrid of autocracy and direct military dictatorship….or Biden wins? Or something else happens I can’t predict? Maybe 2024 will be like 2020 and we manage to punt our problems down the road another four years.

At the moment, however, we’re in a “Not great, Bob,” situation.

‘Afterlow’ — #lyrics to a #pop song

Afterlow
lyrics by @sheltgarner
please give credit if you produce or perform

fighting over the wetspot
and for the dawn to break
you just another in a number
of people who won’t give me space
what will happen after this
I don’t know
other than it will be low
the afterlow is my fate
the afterlow is this date
the afterlow is the case I make

the afterlow
the afterlow
leave me alone to sulk
in the afterlow
in the afterlow

lovers are a dime a dozen
when you’re hot
some are great in bed
and some are not
what am I to say or do
just leave me alone
you goon

the afterlow
the afterlow
leave me alone to sulk
in the afterlow
in the afterlow

(bridge)
the high is what I seek
but it’s just a peek
in the end no one will arrive
to sooth my frown
just get away from me you clown
let me dwell on the
afterlow.

the afterlow
the afterlow
leave me alone to sulk
in the afterlow
in the afterlow

‘New Model Army’ — #lyrics to a #pop #rock love #ballad

New Model Army
lyrics by @sheltgarner
please give credit if you produce or perform

you’re my babe
without any fate
in the end no matter what
I’m willing to get into the muck
if I have to fight the New Model Army
for your love, it would be enough
New Model Army
New Modle Army
New Model Army

fight the good fight
the New Model Army is there
the New Model Army has no fear
don’t you fret
don’t you bet
the New Model Army
the New Model Army
the New Model Army
is what I will fight for you

The kids these days
don’t know what makes me afraid
the New Model Army does the trick
makes me want to spit
just accept no matter what
that the New Model Army is there to fight
New Model Army
New Model Army
New Model Army

(bridge)
peace is at hand
no army will need to show itself
when we feel hope is all around
because we have turn all frowns upside down
because the New Model Army
is nowhere to be found.

fight the good fight
the New Model Army is there
the New Model Army has no fear
don’t you fret
don’t you bet
the New Model Army
the New Model Army
the New Model Army
is what I will fight for you

I Have Not Felt This Amount Of Momentum For MAGA Since 2016

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


I remember what it was like in 2015-2016. There was real excitement and momentum when it came to MAGA. And, sadly, I feel that same way now. There is real excitement, momentum on the part of MAGA. There is a lot of energy on the side of people who want…fascism, autocracy.

So, lulz?

It definitely seems as though This Is It. The End. We’re fucked. Now, there is a lot of Known Unknowns. There are plenty of things that could give us an off ramp and allow us to punt our structural problems down the road another four years.

But at the same time, it definitely seems we’re careening towards a hybrid autocracy – military dictatorship demanding on where you live in the United States. I think we have to accept that we need to recalibrate our expectations for life in the United States post-Trump swearing in.

We. Are. So. Fucked.

A lot of angry white angry people want a white Christian ethnostate. They are willing to give up their American birthright of living in a free country simply because they hate brown people, trans people and women with economic agency more.

The future fucking sucks. There are no easy answers. There is no endgame. We just have to figure out how to survive.

‘Afterglow’ — #lyrics to a #pop #ballad

Afterglow
lyrics by @sheltgarner
please give credit if you produce or perform

lie next to you in the dead of night
feeling as though life is alight
is a baby on its way or did God
just make our bodies this way
what more is there to say
but to lie back and enjoy
the afterglow
afterglow, afterglow, afterglow

don’t you fret
the afterglow is a bet
against how brutal life can be
the afterglow is for you and me
baby you’ll always be by mind side
feeling just as sublime
in the afterglow, afterglow, afterglow

the afterglow is just fine
when you love someone so sublime
every such moment is precious
when you think of the rush
that will occur at any moment
when the dawn comes and the earth itself
gets to see the glow of the dawn

don’t you fret
the afterglow is a bet
against how brutal life can be
the afterglow is for you and me
baby you’ll always be by mind side
feeling just as sublime
in the afterglow, afterglow, afterglow

(bridge)
the dimness of the day
makes us all feel this way
but I know you’re the one for me
when I need to fight the new model army
my fear is going to be gone
once you hear this song

don’t you fret
the afterglow is a bet
against how brutal life can be
the afterglow is for you and me
baby you’ll always be by mind side
feeling just as sublime
in the afterglow, afterglow, afterglow

‘Vortex’ — #lyrics to a #dance #pop song

Vortex
lyrics by @sheltgarner
please give credit if you produce or perform

your love is a storm
I feel whipped and torn apart
whenever you sashay my way
giving me that glance that
breaks me into three
you’re a vortex
vortex
vortex
vortex

the power of yor love
is a sigh to see
baby, you mean so much to me
what am I to do
when loving you is like
being in the center
of a
vortex
vortex
vortex

lovers come and go
some are just for show
(don’t you know)
but our love will last forever
I’m sure this is the truth
nothing will change my mind
not even death itself
that might come because of life in a
vortex
vortex
vortex

the power of yor love
is a sigh to see
baby, you mean so much to me
what am I to do
when loving you is like
being in the center
of a
vortex
vortex
vortex

(bridge)
the calm of life
can be quite a delight
but it’s boring too
what’s a person to do
when you realize that love
is like a storm
crashing down on you

the power of yor love
is a sigh to see
baby, you mean so much to me
what am I to do
when loving you is like
being in the center
of a
vortex
vortex
vortex

Once More, With Feeling (Redux)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Not only am I falling apart, but I continue to feel like I’m spinning my wheels when it comes to the first few chapters of this novel. This is the point in the past, of course, when the whole thing would collapse and I would pretty much lurch forward in the plot so I could at least start writing with some momentum again.

My heroine looks like Corrie Yee in my mind.

But this time, I’m not doing that. I’m going to press forward. I’m pretty sure that I have figured things out with the beginning of this novel. It’s just a matter of being really, really patient and methodical.

I’ve changed so much about characters and relationship when it comes to this novel that that, unto itself, is going to slow me down. But — hopefully — not too much. I am still on track to wrap up this third draft by about April 1st. That will give me a few months so do pre-flight things before I query to agents in the fall of 2024.

I still have no idea what I’m going to “comp” my novel to. In general, the novel could be compared to Gillian Flynn’s “Sharp Objects.” And I’m sure I’m going to make many, many mistakes as part of the querying process. But that’s part of the fun of it all, the thing that gives one a sense of adventure.

Being an aspiring novelist, you are bombarded with a lot of advice, all of it being contradictory. It’s enough to make your head spin. But I’ve come up with my own, personal, set of arbitrary rules that I *try* to follow as well as possible as I write this third draft.

I believe I have a stable first chapter. I believe I’m well on my way to having a stable second chapter. The big issue will be how quickly — or slowly — it takes me to get past just the first few chapters into the core of the first act and then into the second act.

I can’t keep writing and re-writing this portion of the novel forever.