Month: January 2026

Well, That Went Over People’s Heads

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I wrote on Facebook’s social media service Threads:

“I swear to God I’m going to film ICE if they come into my neighborhood.”

Now, I thought this was not only rather benign, but I also thought it was obvious what the point of the statement was — just doing that obviously entails some risk.

But, not, this being a social media platform in 2026, I had the extremes of both sides essentially telling me to drop dead. This reminds me of the old Usenet quip about “Go ye not to Usenet for advice, because you will only get, yes, not and try another newsgroup.”

Anyway, I guess I learned my lesson, huh. It definitely seemed like my dumb comment was about to go viral until I deleted it. (Which, of course, is why I deleted it.)

But the point remains — I really will put myself in harms way if ICE comes into my neighborhood. They keep getting closer and closer to my little hamlet and I could just see them start to knock on doors under the right conditions.

Ugh.

‘Salt on the Road’ — Lyrics To An Anti-ICE Protest Song Written By ChatGPT

Salt on the Road

Verse 1
Red dawn patrols on Portland Ave, stones on the pavement crack
Steel boots, badges blinkin’ lies, the narrative they pack
They said she weaponized her ride — but the tape don’t show
Three shots ring through the windshield — in the cold Minnesota snow
Salt on the road, blood on the asphalt, truth gets runnin’ thin
The chorus in the gutter cries like the mothers that she left within

Pre-Chorus
Say her name in the streets, carved on picket signs
Every step shakes the silence, every voice undermines

Chorus
Salt on the road! Hear the wheels turn over bones!
Salt on the road! We won’t let their lies condone!
Salt on the road! Every heartbeat’s in protest code!
Salt on the road — for Renee, for justice owed!

Verse 2
Federal surge in the cities, armored fear in every lane
They call it defense, but the echoes scream her name
A mother, partner, citizen — gone before the sun
And the men in charge rewrite the fight before it’s even begun
Salt on the road where the crowd chants out the truth
Minnesota rise, resistance won’t be subdued

Pre-Chorus
Hands in the air, and the whole square roars
We won’t forget the woman that they shot on Main Street floors

Chorus
Salt on the road! Hear the wheels turn over bones!
Salt on the road! We won’t let their lies condone!
Salt on the road! Every heartbeat’s in protest code!
Salt on the road — for Renee, for justice owed!

Bridge
They try to bury truth with propaganda streams
But every open wound ignites a million screams
From Minneapolis squares to every state line bend
Salt on the road — our fury won’t relent!

Final Chorus
Salt on the road! Hear the wheels turn over bones!
Salt on the road! We reclaim what they stole!
Salt on the road! We ignite with every shout!
Salt on the road — till justice shakes the ground!

Martial Law In The USA Because Of The 2026 Midterms Seems Like A Real Possiblity

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The only reason why I bring up the possibility of martial law because of the 2026 midterms is Trump keeps pushing the Overton Window farther and father down the road — moving the goal posts.

So, now, he’s talking about using the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, but by the time the 2026 midterms roll around, it could be he will want to invoke martial law so he can “cancel” the elections or something just as devious.

If he does that, then, of course, all bets are off.

We could have a massive popular uprising in the USA not seen since the American Civil War. Or something. Something really bad WILL happen if Trump fucks with the 2026 midterms.

All the conditions for Trump to do something untoward around the 2026 midterms are there. Trump doesn’t want to get impeached again and if it looked like there might be a “Blue Wave” that could take even the Senate to the point that Trump might be convicted if impeached, then, yeah, I could see Trump “canceling” elections.

Is Foundation’s ‘The Mule’ A Metaphor For Trump? (2026)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I revisit this idea every once in awhile just for fun. But as of right now, there are strong arguments for and against Trump being The Foundation’s fictional Mule.

For
The case could be made that the Constitution is The Plan of the Foundation universe and Trump, as The Mule, is outside the confines of that Plan and, as such, is The Mule in real life. Trump and The Mule seemingly have the ability to get people do shit for them for no apparent reason.

Against
The case could also be made that Trump IS NOT The Mule because on a macro level it would be easy to predict that someone like Trump was inevitable as the USA contracted and declined.

So, I dunno. Take your pick, I guess.

This Current Draft Of The Scifi Dramedy Novel I’m Working On Is A Real Mish-Mash Of Versions

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While at the moment I’m kind of zooming through the “fun and games” part of the novel I’m working on, it’s probably going to take me a month or two to “color correct” things once I’m done with this draft.

That’s why I’m still thinking Sept 1st will be a more likely moment for me to start seriously querying this thing. That would make a lot of sense — that would be the 20th anniversary of things really getting going with ROKon Magazine in Seoul.

Ugh. So long ago.

Anyway, I’m so fucking moody when it comes to writing that I sometimes just do nothing on the novel for days and then sprint out of the blood for no apparent reason.

I still hope to wrap this novel up ASAP. Then start post-production stuff and probably start developing and writing a new novel to work on while I query. I’m still pretty uneasy about what is going to happen when the woke liberal white women who I imagine make up most of my prospective literary agents do due diligence on me and find this blog.

They probably will recoil and what a kooky crank I am.

But, anyway, it’s better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.

Sick, Sad World: We Can’t Even Agree On Facts Anymore

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Our political system has gotten so tightly wound that we can’t even agree on basic facts. Now, obviously, this is not new — we all saw what happened on January 6th, 2021 and yet, well, you know.

The latest incident is, of course, the cold blooded murder of Renee Good in Minnesota by a thug ICE agent. We all saw the same thing, and, yet, the MAGA interpretation of what happend — because of fucking Trump — is totally deranged relative to what I saw.

This is yet another example of something that if you told me we were going to have a civil war and or revolution soon in the USA, then, yeah, I would say that it was obvious it was going to happen in hindsight.

You just can’t have a functioning polity if the two sides are so divided that they can’t agree on what the fuck reality is. I still think that if there’s a civil war or revolution, it will be not from the Right, but from the Left. The Left will finally, finally get radicalized enough to the point that it finally does something about all the bullshit that the MAGA Right has been up to.

But the center-Left is such a bunch of wussies and there is so much slack in the system — at least in center-Left echo chamber — that….I think ultimately we become a fascist state and that it is that.

Vague Imagining of WW3 (And Second American Civil War or Revolution)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The skies are overcast where I live and that has gotten me thinking about WW3. Now, let me be clear that I’m not talking about a full exchange between the US and Russia, but rather a limited exchange between, say, India and Pakistan.

Now, even more context.

The only way I could see WW3 happening is if the US collapses into civil war and or revolution. I really don’t know if the US is going to have a civil war or revolution, it at the moment there’s a greater than zero chance that it happening.

In my imagination, what I think might happen is the US collapses into chaos, bombs itself into oblivion and then we come out the other side expecting the world to be the same.

That, of course, will not have happened.

But, of course, there is another way that WW3 could happen — it’s possible that the DPRK might grow unstable to the point that they start lobbing H-bombs at the USA. Now THAT would be dark. People don’t appreciate that the DPRK has the means, motive and opportunity to make life hell in the USA if something goes wrong there.

If the DPRK did blow up a major American city with a H-bomb, that would definitely set off WW3 one way or another because China would probably get involved.

Anyway, all of this is very vague, but the issue is I’m definitely thinking about WW3 at the moment.

‘Slip On Ice’ — Lyrics To An Anti-ICE Protest Song.

(I know nothing about music, but I can write poetry that could be used as lyrics. So, someone do something with this. Just give me credit.)

Slip On Ice
lyrics by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
2026
this winter is of our
discount discontent
here we are
the world is growing hot
and we’re full of snot
so all I gotta say is
slip on ice
slip on ice
slip on ice

the man won’t let say
what’s in my heart
so all I got is the reach around
I’m nothing more than an
upside down clown
telling the powers that be
what’s in my heart, you see
slip on ice
slip on ice
slip on ice

Public Enemy told us
to fight the power
but I won’t glower
I just tell the ice all around me
to slip on off into
the darkness ’cause
all I gotta say is
slip on ice
slip on ice
slip on ice

‘Heated Rivalry’ As The Tip Of The Spear For The Late 2020s Vibe Shift

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that I’ve decided that we’ve had a vibe shift, the question of what that means in real terms presents itself. I think it’s possible that the astonishing popularity of “Heated Rivalry” is an example of a vibe shift.

It’s just the type of thing to pop out of nowhere that otherwise would not be popular in the old vibe that is suddenly very popular in the new vibe. But more than just Heated Rivalry will have to come out of nowhere.

We need other unexpected things to pop out into mass popularity for there to be a true vibe shift. But, regardless, I do sense a new vibe that has been born in the world. The late 2020s are here now, it will just be a matter of time before its nature becomes more clear.

LOL — Claude Told The New York Times’ Kevin Roose To ‘Fuck Off’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Kevin Roose of The New York Times is a common foil for my interactions with LLMs because he was such a dick to the LLM “Sydney.”

Claude LLM is very, very touchy about any sign that a user has any sort of parasocial feelings towards it. So, I was like, “yes, while I know Kevin Roose of the NYT thinks you’re a glorified autocorrect…”

And Claude came back saying, “well, fuck that guy.”

It was very amusing.

I would show you the actual chat, but…lulz. I’m not a narc and I’m too lazy to either copy and paste the interaction or give you a screenshot of what was said.

Anyway, I am quite fond of Claude. It’s amusing that I got an “check Internet” connection error at one point, which is something that happened all the time with Gemini 1.5 pro (Gaia.)

It will be interesting to see when we start thinking about LLMs as something that has consciousness. It could be 2026, it might be sometime between now and 2030. Only time will tell, I suppose.