It’s interesting to watch the collapse of one’s own society in real-time. Operation Epstein is well into its third week, and Elon Musk is offering to pay the wages of ICE agents who are being redeployed to assist TSA agents whose paychecks are being held hostage by Donald Trump until congress strips millions of Americans of their right to vote.

Such is the times we live in. How did we get here? Simple: At the end of the Civil War, we should have executed every member of the Confederate government and all of their supporters and backers. And at the end of the Revolutionary War, we should have executed every monarchist on the North American continent.

But we didn’t, because each of these “victories” was really a compromise with the enemy, undertaken in the deliberate continuance of aristocracy under different names. As the saying goes, the South may have lost the war, but the Confederacy is still going strong.

Reading

While traveling for work I finished Greg Rappleye’s beautiful Barley Child, which I picked up from the Grand River Poetry Collective during a recent event at The Lit. Though the writing styles are quite different, the subject was reminiscent of Charles Reznikoff’s Testament.

And as has become my habit, I am working my way through Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation, one sentence at a time. Every time I travel, I start over at the beginning. Soon I will have the first three pages memorized, as the rest of the book gathers dust.

Writing

Not much to report. But I did attend a meeting of the Grand River Poetry Collective, and feel motivated to work on some old poems. We will see how long that motivation lasts, in the face of global war.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Fae, Dragons
Setting: Library
Genre: Slipstream

Listening

That 1 Guy, “Packs a Wallop!”

Interesting Links

• “Iran War: Trump Issues 48 Hour Unhinged Ultimatum to Iran; Iran Vows Mass Destruction Countermeasures; Israel Takes Hit to Dimona Area, Other Blows After Second Firing on Iran Nuclear Reactor Site ; More Warnings of Deep Damage from Strait of Hormuz Closure, LNG Reduction Effects” (2026.03.22)
• “Iran War: Trump’s 48 Hour Deadline Approaches; Soldiers Fearful as Lindsey Graham Calls for Their Sacrifice; Complacency in Face of Intersecting Shortages, Like Food and Plastics” (2026.03.23)
• “Iran War: US/Israel Attacks Near Iran Energy Infrastructure; Temporary TACO as Boots on the Ground Moves Continue? Postol on How Iran Nukes Israel in Retaliation and the Horrific Consequences; Gulf States Double Down on Loyalty to US” (2026.03.24)
• “Iran War: Mainstream Media Starting to Acknowledge Potential Iran Victory as Trump Flails About, Readying Ground Assault; EU Reversal on Russia Oil Sanctions, Emergency Actions in Asia, Even China, Shows Accelerating Economic Damage” (2026.03.25)
• “Iran War: Accelerating Economic Damage Creates Urgency on Strait of Hormuz Closure; Shambolic US Assault Preparations Continue; Iran Demands Recognition of Sovereignity Over Strait; Houthis Set to Strangle Red Sea Traffic if US Makes Ground Attack” (2026.03.26)
• “Iran War: Trump Faffs About, Extending Deadline for Strike Threat by 10 Days as US Military and Energy/Materials Shortfalls and Shortages Expected in Weeks; Iran Allows Transit of Trapped “Friendly” Ships” (2026.03.27)
• “Iran War: More Escalation – US Strikes Iran Steel Plants, Israel Sends Third Missile at Iran Nuclear Plant; Yemen Joins War” (2026.03.28)