As A Principled, Loudmouth Crank, I Have To Accept The Possibility That ICE Is Going One Day Murder Me In Cold Fucking Blood

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Not that I think it’s going to happen anytime soon, but I do feel like it’s potentially inevitable that ICE is going to murder me in cold blood at some point. Either because I’m just at the wrong place at the wrong time — like Renee Good — or because of mission creep them turning into America’s SS.

I like to think of myself as something of a survivor, though.

So, I guess this is post is me just psyching myself up to game out what the fuck I’m going to do. But I do know that my gut tells me if ICE came into my neighborhood I would definitely, if nothing else, film them with my smartphone.

Bastards.

And, as such, I would be putting myself in a position where a fascist ICE thug might murder me for just doing something as simple as that.

Of course, the darker option is ICE turns into the American SS and they murder me for, well, being a loudmouth crank. Just for writing my thoughts out on this blog. I’ve already started to imagine what it will be like if ICE agents came knocking on my door and dragged me away into the night for calling them fucking cocksuckers online.

We live in interesting times.

America Needs A General Strike — Too Bad It’s Just Not Going To Happen Anytime Soon

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s said you can bring down any government with just 5% of the population participating in a revolt. And, all things considered, the USA definitely needs a General Strike right about now.

But, alas, it’s just not going to happen.

Because of our K-shaped economy, the Powers That Be would just fire anyone who participated in a General Strike (at least in Right to Work States) and go about their merry business. The only thing I can possibly see that might provoke the type of macro freak out necessary for a General Strike would be if the AI Bubble popped in a really big way.

And, of course, more people being shot in the face by ICE for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

But, for now, I think it’s safe to say Trump and fucking fascist MAGA have the upper hand and will continue to have it for the foreseeable future. Maybe if Trump really brazenly fucks with the 2026 and or 2028 elections…THEN, MAYBE we might see the average American getting all Bulls On Parade, but for now, it’s all a lulz.

Life In Fascist America, 2026

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing about America right now is it’s in something of a luminal space, politically. It’s more an anocracy than an autocracy. We still have some basic rights that the regime doesn’t feel it can attack…but there is definitely a creeping sense of autocracy.

The interesting thing about the American variant of fascism in 2026 is how it’s a movement of decline and retraction, rather than expansion. It’s not like Trump, for all his “I must own Greenland” wants to take over the world.

The key thing to remember is Trump is not a traditional “Great Man.” It’s not like he’s bending history to his will. He is a symptom, not a cause of what the fuck is wrong with the United States at the moment. He’s very much a transitional figure.

I still contend that the whole point of Trump as a public figure is to destroy the existing American Constitutional order to the point that we have to convene a new Constitutional Convention to give people renewed faith and confidence in having a constitution at all.

The old system is failing and a new system is, in fits and starts, being born. In a sense, you could say what we’re witnessing is either the true demise of American democracy or the breached birth of the Third American Republic.

Just don’t know how things are going to work out.

This Scifi Dramedy Novel Is A Little Darker Than I Meant It To Be

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Oh boy. So, this novel is about a sexbot that, at the inciting incident, presents our hero with a proposal so he can “subscribe” to her. Now, I have only gradually come to realize how dark this particular proposal is.

It was just something I stumble across in the process of thinking about how I, a broke ass writer, might be able to have a replicant-like being in my life at some point in the not too distant future.

My only concern is that the novel is a little too dark for its own good and my hero is going to come across as an asshole for accepting the proposal at all. I can just see the vocal woke cancel culture mob people saying *I* am an asshole for writing the novel at all.

And, yet, the novel isn’t, like Girl With The Dragon Tattoo dark. It’s more One Battle After Another dark. It’s funny enough — or I at least hope and think it is — that some of the darkness will be offset by how surreal and amusing some other elements of the novel are meant to be.

One thing is for sure — there will be no sex work in whatever other, new novel I end up working on going forward. I’m cool to wallow in talking about it with this novel because it gives the novel its point and, best of all, stakes, but I’m growing tired of people thinking my work is trash because I talk about sex work.

That Warning Is A Little Late…

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Sometimes, on Tik-Tok, you run across something so dumb that you just have to chuckle. Take, for instance, this Tik-Tok I was pushed today by a woman who with great authority said that Google was using its Evil AI Technology to scan all our emails.

I find this hilarious because Google has been scanning all our emails, in some way, since its advent. Maybe the AI being used has grown more advanced, but the principle is the same.

Ugh.

And, of course, this way too late freak out is going to be even bigger when Google implements its new AI-first Gmail. Then people, who have not been paying attention, are going to freak the fuck out.

Vibe Shift 2026!

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It used to be, vibe shifts happened all the time. As such, the world of the early 1980s was very, very different than that of the late 1980s. And then, for some reason, we got stuck in 1995 for thirty years.

Now, I’m not saying people will start to wear different clothes (at last), but mentally, I do think something has shifted. People are starting to look at the world in a slightly different way.

And, I think, that is going to pop up rather abruptly and suddenly when an unexpected movie, TV show or song becomes really popular for what seems like no apparent reason. I would maybe suggest the gay-hocky player TV show Heated Rivalry as an example of what I’m talking about.

While I do think that is an indication of a vibe shift, I thinking more something even more unexpected. Though, as an aside, I will suggest that the renewed popularity of Mad Men AGAIN is another sign of a vibe shift.

I think if a little movie with an unexpected plotline became really popular out of the blue in the next few months that that would be a prime suggestion that we really have had a vibe shift. If I really wanted to be egotistical, I might suggest that my scifi dramedy novel I’m working on might, just might be a part of the vibe shift.

Ha!

Or maybe it will be a piece of technology that takes off in an unexpected way. Maybe the vibe shift will be when Google Gemini totally takes over from ChatGPT as the go-to LLM for the consumer. That would definitely be a very vibe-shift type of thing to happen.

Or, maybe, it will be the OpenAI “pen?” that is being speculated about. Or, maybe, this could be the year that XR really takes off in an unexpected way. Or, if you really wanted to get weird, you might even suggest that some sort of AGI / ASI takes off at some point this year and changes e v e r y t h i n g.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens next.

I’ve Wrapped Up The First Act (AGAIN) Of This Scifi Dramedy Novel I’ve Been Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve finally, yet again, wrapped up the first act of the scifi dramedy novel I’ve been working on. Now, I’m going to stare out into space for a little while before I throw myself into the second act again.

The key thing — as always — is to make sure that my hero isn’t passive. I’ve had a real problem with my protagonist being reactive to the point that the AIs I’ve been using to develop the novel keep pointing it out. It’s all very frustrating.

Another issue is I really, really need to avoid leaning into using AI to actually write the scenes. I want as much as possible of this novel’s text to be written by my hand, even if it means the novel isn’t as good as it might otherwise be.

All this praise I’ve been getting from what little pieces of the novel I’ve given people to read is making me feel a little insecure — ok, maybe a lot insecure. It’s starting to eat away at me that maybe my writing…just sucks? And the only way for it to be good enough to get a literary agent is…to use AI to sharpen it to publishing quality?

I don’t like thinking about that.

My Take On Events In Minnesota

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Here’s what I think is happening after the tragic murder of Renee Good at the hands of a ICE thug in Minnesota. Trump really wanted to get ahead of things, so the moment he learned what happened, he put out the word as to what the orthodoxy on the subject would be.

The rest took care of itself.

Trump wants to divide us so he can run roughshod over civil society and he’s doing a great job at the moment of just that. So much so, that I’m beginning to doubt that anyone will do anything of note if Trump really fucks with the 2026 midterms.

Sure, people like me will get upset, but, in general the average person, especially “Good Americans” will just bothsides everything or do whataboutism and Trump will effectively cement us as a zomibe democracy — a managed democracy like they have in Hungary.

As such, I don’t see us having a civil war or revolution this year. We’re just going to slide further and further into autocracy. To the point that when Trump runs for an illegal third term in 2028 it will be a lulz for most people, but not me.

Second American Civil War (or Revolution), 2026?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have pontificated so much on the possibility of a civil war or revolution to the point that it’s kind of silly for me to talk about it. But, let’s do it anyway.

I just don’t think there will be a civil war in the United States in 2026. Americans are not French and, as such, they are very, very docile. It takes a lot — A LOT — to rile them up.

The only possible way I could maybe, just maybe see a civil war (or revolution) in the USA this year is if Trump actively fucked with the 2026 midterms to the point that he invoked the Insurrection Act or even declared martial law. If he declared martial law and tried to actually cancel the 2026 midterms, then, yes, we will have a civil war in the second half of this year.

But, otherwise, I just don’t see it.

Now, while we’re on the subject, I do think that if Trump ran for an illegal third term in 2028, then, yeah, that would cause a civil war or revolution. Big time. But, at the same time, I think Trump’s personal historical reason to exist on a macro basis is to destroy the existing Constitutional order to the point that we may have to convene a Constitutional Convention to fix things once he finally, finally leaves the stage.

But all of that is very, very speculative.

I will note that I have long thought that if there’s a civil war, it will because Blues have had enough, not because of Reds — why would Reds want a civil war, they’re politically ascendant.

Anyway, I can’t predict the future.

The Long-Predicted Vibe Shift Has, At Last, Happened

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems as though the long, long, long predicted vibe shift has happened. We’re in a new era, it seems. Something shifted in our collective consciousness between Christmas and January.

To the point that just in the first few days of 2026, all hell broke loose both domestically and abroad.

Anyway, who knows what all this means.

I do think that 2026 is going to be a pretty monumental year. Usually odd-numbered years are shit, but I think this year is going to be very turbulent and shocking in ways none of us can predict.