Month: August 2025

I Have To Prepare Myself To Be Detained By ICE Eventually

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know how or why it’s going to happen, but I am — have always been — a loudmouth crank and, as such, as we zoom towards full blown autocracy I’m sure to cross the State at some point.

I’m a man of peace, a man of ideas, but I’m also a man of principles. As such, if some fucking cocksucker ICE agent comes after me simply for using my 1st Amendment rights, I’m going to stand my ground.

Of course, I say that now when who knows what will happen when I’m getting the shit beat out of me by some GED failing tubby piece of shit.

And let me be clear — it’s not like I’m going to be violent or hostile in any way in this hypothetical scenario. In my imagination, they will come for me for what I post on this blog or just because I happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

That’s the specific point I’m trying to make — if I’m not doing anything illegal and some fat fuck ICE agent comes for me, I’m prepared to be detained. Fuck ICE and fuck MAGA.

‘New World Order’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

All of this is very speculative, but if you take Trump’s expressed desires to their logical conclusion, it seem inevitable there will be some sort of “New World Order” established by him soon.

What I imagine it would look like is something like this — the USA will destroy NATO and, instead, align itself with Russia, Hungary and Turkey. It will begin to pull troops out of nations across the globe, the better to police the streets of an ever-more-militarized America.

All of this will happen in the context of taxes being cut and cut and cut for the wealthy — probably to zero, the rise of AI / androids and maybe, just maybe the replacement of the entire social safety net with a very weak and low UBI. And there probably will be a 30% VAT.

That, my dear friends, seems to be our “day after tomorrow” future.

The only potential “zag” that might happen is, well, some sort of revolution / civil war. If that happened, it would be very, very nasty. I could definitely see a race war happening in the USA as well as the use of WMD throughout the country by both sides.

Anyway. That seems like one potential future for us going forward.

We Live In A Luminal Space Where We’re An Autocratic State With Free Speech

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing that gives us a false sense of security in the United States is while otherwise we’re an autocratic state, we still have free speech. I can still tell ICE — and the broader Trump regime — to fuck off and not expect a knock on my door.

This leads to the question of how long that is going to last.

Give how precious free speech is to Americans and how Trump clamping directly down that would make even the most ardent MAGA person at least have pause for thought, I think it’s going to be a while.

Or, put a different way — I think that will be the last thing that Trump fucks with. Going directly after people’s right to free speech is going to be when the ash from the MAGA volcano reaches the horizon and we’re absolutely fucking doomed.

So, probably it would be during Trump’s illegal third term that that kind of thing happens. But it is going to happen. I just can’t image we will go full white Christian autocratic ethnostate and the powers that be will allow traditional freedom of speech to linger.

Of course, there is the theory that if Trump really consolidates power as much as he would like that he — or the people around him — might see clamping down on individual free speech as too much of a hassle. And, besides, it would be a pressure valve.

It is clear that the center-Left is very, very weak in the USA and there’s really nothing stopping Trump from going full autocrat (like he is now) so, at least for a historical beat longer than you might expect…maybe individual freedom of speech is a little bit safer than you might expect?

Trump Makes Me Wonder If We Live In A Simulation

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Trump is a symptom, not a cause of a lot of pretty shitty things within the United States these days. As such, it’s not like if you took Trump out of the equation that anything would really change all that much.

Yeah, the specifics of the fascism we now live under would be different, but the general gameplan would be the same. We would still no longer be a democracy and we would still be zooming towards living in a state that is along the lines of Hungary or Russia.

Let me explain.

If Trump had never come around, Ted Cruz probably would have become president in 2016. He would probably have be a little bit slower to do some of the things that Trump has done, but, in general, now in 2025 we probably would be just about where we are now.

Trump’s great power is he has absolutely no shame and he pretty much does whatever the fuck he wants. Cruz would have done the same things, but probably in a more focused way that would, in some sense, leave us still a somewhat functioning democracy.

But, alas, Obama made fun of Trump and so here we are.

There is something about Trump that seems a little bit too-on-the-nose historically. That’s why I think he might be the by product of some sort of weird, massive simulation that we call human history and civilization — and maybe the universe?

Anyway. No one is going to save us. We’re fucked. We just have to deal with the consequences and try to survive.

The thing about Trump is he keeps pushing and pushing, trying to push us all to a breaking point where we either finally, reluctantly, fight back or just fall directly and irreversibly into the arms of tyranny.

Mulling The Possibility That Magazines Will Evolve Into AI Agents

The enduring appeal of magazines as a medium remains compelling, despite shifting consumption patterns in the digital age. While personal engagement with print publications has declined, the fundamental concept of curated, specialized content delivery continues to hold significant value. This raises important questions about how traditional media formats will adapt and evolve as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into information consumption.

The Potential for Media Consolidation Through AI

A plausible trajectory for the media landscape involves the convergence of traditional outlets into specialized AI-driven information systems. This evolution could manifest through personalized “anchor” AI assistants that serve as primary information gatekeepers for individual users. These systems would operate within comprehensive subscription frameworks, seamlessly routing users to specialized AI agents as needed.

For instance, a user’s primary AI assistant might delegate breaking news inquiries to a CNN-affiliated agent, sports coverage to an ESPN-powered system, or financial updates to specialized business media agents. This model would preserve the expertise and editorial perspective of established media brands while fundamentally transforming the delivery mechanism.

The Digitization of Traditional Media

While the prospect of eliminating physical print media may be disappointing to those who value tactile reading experiences, current technological and economic trends suggest this outcome is increasingly likely. The transformation of all media into AI-agent-based systems represents not merely a change in format, but a fundamental restructuring of how information is curated, personalized, and delivered to consumers.

This evolution reflects broader patterns in digital transformation, where traditional industries adapt their core value propositions to new technological paradigms while maintaining their essential functions in modified forms.

Implications for the Future

The transition to AI-mediated media consumption presents both opportunities and challenges for information literacy, editorial independence, and the preservation of diverse perspectives in public discourse. As this transformation unfolds, careful consideration of these factors will be essential to maintaining the informational and cultural functions that traditional media has historically served.

There’s No Need For Trump To Be As Ham-handed As To Suspend Elections

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

People keep talking about how Trump is going to come up with some excuse to suspend or cancel elections in 2026 and or 2028. While I suppose it’s very possible, I’m just not buying it.

There are just too many existential risks to do such a thing, even for Trump. What is more likely to happen is elections will happen, but they won’t be free and fair. And I say this exclusively about Federal elections. I think, for the foreseeable future, in general, state and local elections will continue as they always have.

Federal elections, however, are fucked. Trump is going to do everything in his power to tip the scales so MAGA is locked in to have power for the rest of my life. America will grow poorer, more militaristic and mor inward looking.

That seems to be our fate.

Now, if you really wanted to get spunky, you might even game out a scenario where before Trump drops dead — say, during an illegal third term — he totally re-arranges the world global order in his image by destroying NATO in favor of a new alliance of the USA, Russia, Hungary and Turkey.

I still think the motherfucker is going to tear down the White House and replace it with a monstrosity that looks a lot like the Old Executive Office Building.

Two New Autocratic Moves Of Note By Trump

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Here are two interesting autocratic moves on the part of the Trump Regime.

  1. Rummaging Through Mortgages
    Just like Nixon sicked the IRS on people back in the day, I think Trump is going to rifle through people’s mortgages in search of “irregularities” he can put them in jail for. It definitely seems as though Trump is working his way towards, say Obama or Hillary Clinton so he can finally spooge that particular wet dream out.
  2. Seizing of D.C.’s Union Station
    This is a good chokepoint for people coming in the area from outside to protest. So, when Trump finally drops the next autocratic shoe, he will be able to prevent people from coming into D.C. to protest — or more — his autocratic behavior.

‘Zombie Democracy’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The curious thing about everything happening politically in the United States is for the most part it’s happening in broad daylight. MAGA cocksuckers haven’t come directly for free speech — yet — so we know damn well about how Trump is consolidating power at a rapid rate.

But I think the last few weeks is when we crossed over into a “zombie” or “managed” democracy. We’re never going to have free-and-fair Federal elections again and this is it — democracy in America is finally dead.

Yes, we’ll continue to have elections and they may even be free-and-fair on a state and local level, but on a Federal basis, MAGA is well on it way to consolidating power to the point that this is it — we’re always going to have a MAGA Federal government, at least for the rest of my life.

It was nice while it lasted, I guess.

Now In The Second Half Of The First Draft Of The Dramedy Scifi Novel I’m Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So. I’ve zoomed through the first half of the outline for this scifi dramedy novel I’m working on because of AI helping me. Now, I’m in the second half. Usually, when I do such things on my own, this is the moment when everything collapses and I have to start from scratch.

Hopefully, this is not going to happen this time.

But the same problems of me not getting any younger and also knowing my life is going to be turned upside down soon continue to linger. And, yet, I can’t really focus too much on that, right?

I have a novel to work on.

All I hope is that the novel, after I rewrite it without the aid of AI, will be good enough to query. That’s all I want — a novel that is good enough to query. Everything else will be icing on the cake.

‘The Pizza Guy’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have a fuzzy idea for a short story about a dystopian near future where the only free speech is porn and the only political speech is delivered by the pizza guy in the porn’s setup.

That’s how I feel about the Taylor Swift engagement news. Here we are, careening towards a zombie democracy bordering on an actual dictatorship and…lulz? It is going to be interesting to see how long it takes for MAGA to stop pussy footing around cracking down on free speech and actually do it.

At the moment, they are mostly using intimidation, but that is going to inevitably change. At some point, MAGA is going to come directly for free speech in a big way and it will be interesting to see what the reaction to that will be.

One thing is for sure, I just don’t see us having another free-and-fair Federal election. Somehow, someway, Republicans are going to cheat in 2026 and definitely 2028 and that will be that.

The only thing that is up in the air is Trump’s fate. But, even then, no one and nothing is going to save us. Trump is just a symptom. So, he could magically disappear at any moment and JD Vance (or someone else) would just keep doing exactly what Trump has been doing.

Yes, the exact persona the tyranny we would live under would be different