Is she the Minister of Cruelty, Minister of Ignorance, or both?
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristie Noem. Image by Matt Johnson. CC license.
Ah, Kristie Noem. President Scarface’s secretary of Homeland Security.
I don’t know whether to call her Minister of Ignorance or Minister of Cruelty. She seems to embody both qualities.
I’m sure you remember the story about Kristie Noem and her mean dog. If not, let me give you a brief recap:
Kristie Noem had this dog she didn’t like. She said it was a mean dog, and it was unteachable.
Unlike most people, who would have taken the dog to an animal shelter so that somebody else could adopt and try to rehabilitate it, Kristie Noem chose a different path. She took the dog out to the back 40 and unalived it with a pew-pew.
That would seem to tilt the scales in favor of Minister of Cruelty.
But then of course there was the other day at a Senate hearing where she was asked to define the term “habeas corpus” and she couldn’t. In fact, the definition she gave was the exact opposite of the meaning of the term. You would think the head of a significant law enforcement agency like Homeleand Security would know what the term “habeas corpus” means, but she did not.
That would seem to tilt the scales in favor of Minster of Ignorance.
In fact, cruelty and ignorance are defining characteristics of the entire President Scarface Cabinet.
You remember when Scarface was running for office and said he would hire only the very best people? Well, believe it or not, that was a lie. I know. It boggles the mind. But that’s the truth. He was lying to you.
He has only three requirements of his Cabinet officers:
1. They must be excruciatingly ignorant and cruel, and I’m combining those two characteristics because they seem to go hand-in-hand. Ignorance and cruelty are the defining characteristics for the entire MAGA movement. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part, the MAGAs are ignorant and cruel.
2. They must be willing to lie. Some of them are very good liars. Kar-Kar Leavitt and that Stepford Wife attorney general, Pam Bondi – excellent liars. Unsurpassed in lying. But then you have others, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio. I’ve actually met Marco Rubio in person. The man hasn’t had an original thought in his life, and there’s not one humorous bone in his body, but he’s not a very good liar. You can see it in his eyes. When he lies, he lacks conviction. He looks like a man trying to endure the unendurable.
3. They must be unswervingly loyal to the Master. They have to be willing to take one for the gipper, to fall on their swords, to do anything and everything to protect the Master, because this is not about serving the nation or its people. This is about keeping President Scarface out of jail while simultaneously fattening his wallet.
So there you have it, folks. The Unholy Trinity of President Scarface’s Cabinet: Ignorance and cruelty, a willingness to lie, and unswerving loyalty to the Master.
When this is over, if it ever ends, there may likely be some kind of Nuremburg. These people will testify that they were only following orders.
No they weren’t.
They were not simply following orders.
They were willing, even gleeful participants in the crimes that are taking place in Washington, D.C., even as we speak.
And they deserve every ounce of justice that comes their way.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
The Blue Diamond Gallery. Creative Commons license.
As you know, I am no friend to President Cankersore.
In fact, I believe his administration is the most corrupt, the most criminal, the most despicable administration in the history of the United States. These people make Richard Nixon look like Mother Theresa.
Sometimes people will ask me: Aren’t you afraid of them coming after you?
Well, to answer that question I would say I guess the possibility exists although I don’t lose sleep over it. I think they’ve got bigger fish to fry than some gassy old white-haired guy who can’t stay awake later than 9 o’clock at night.
Besides, I think it’s my duty as an American to speak up and speak out, because if I’m not willing to do that, how can I expect anyone else to?
If we all take the attitude of standing back, remaining silent and being safe, and letting the other guy stick his neck out, within a year or so we could be goosestepping down Main Street giving the one-armed salute to Dear Leader.
I don’t want to live like that, and I bet you don’t either.
Ask yourself this question: If not you, then who?
Speak up and speak out, because if you don’t, in the near future, you may not have a choice.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
Donald J. Trump, aka Mr. Compassion. Image by Gage Skidmore. CC license.
That was a really nice statement posted by President Liver Fluke when it became known Joe Biden has prostate cancer. For a moment – for a brief, shining moment – I had to ask myself: Have I misjudged that creature? Because beneath that withered, atrophied, Sunny D-stained exterior I thought I detected the beating heart of a human being, a whiff of compassion.
Well, THAT didn’t last long.
Within hours President Liver Fluke had confirmed yet again that he’s the human equivalent of a butt plug. He and the MAGAts began speculating about a cover-up. How could Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis go so long without anybody knowing about – especially since he’s married to a doctor!
I think the next time President Liver Fluke, or any of the MAGAt males for that matter, need to have their prostates checked, they should make an appointment with Dr. Seuss. He’s a doctor, isn’t he?
While we’re talking about medical cover-ups, when are the MAGAts going to address the issue of President Liver Fluke’s obvious dementia? When is somebody going to talk about that? Clearly he’s suffering from cognitive confusion. No human being says the things he says without having a brain that looks like Swiss cheese.
I expect any moment he’ll start raving about other crazy things like alien abductions and being anally probed. Maybe that’s why he hates immigrants so much – because they’re illegal aliens who might keelhaul him off to their spaceship and stick a probe up his butt.
If that happened, at least he’d know how the rest of us feel.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
Image by NOAA.
May 15 marks the beginning of hurricane season in North America, and my concern is that this year will serve to illustrate the disservice provided to the residents of the Gulf of Mexico coastline and the Eastern Seaboard by the Trump regime.
Hurricane season typically runs from June 1 to November 30, but due to the unusual number of storms forming in May, the National Hurricane Center has begun to post its daily tropical weather updates starting on May 15.
This is a direct result of climate change, something Donald Trump has dismissed as a hoax.
Today, storms are forming in May. I expect the day will come when hurricanes form every month of the year.
Additionally, the number of storms forming is increasing. The ferocity of storms is increasing. Episodes of rapid intensification are increasing. Hurricanes are moving more slowly and producing more intense rainfall.
These changes are a result of climate change.
I know as sure as I’m sitting here that some people will, as Trump has, deny the reality of climate change. I encourage you not to listen to them. Climate change is real, it’s happening, and human beings are causing it.
This year is expected to be a more active hurricane season, a condition that has existed since 1995, when virtually every season became hyperactive. What isn’t known is the quality of forecasting this year.
The Trump regime, and Elon Musk, cut 1,300 jobs from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, parent agency of the National Hurricane Center. We don’t know if those cuts will affect the accuracy of hurricane forecasts, but officials say the number of recon flights into storms will most likely be reduced, and that’s how we get the best data.
We also don’t know how the government will respond to a hurricane disaster. That’s because the Trump regime and Musk have cut hundreds of jobs from FEMA. Will the agency be able to handle a disaster like Hurricane Ivan? We don’t know.
Additionally, if you live in Florida and use the state-provided pool for windstorm insurance, you should be aware the state is one strong hurricane away from insolvency. There may not be any money for you to repair your house.
My advice to anybody living along the Gulf of Mexico coastline and the Eastern Seaboard is to be prepared. Have your evacuation plans in place, and your supplies on hand – water, food, medications and batteries sufficient to last you several days should you be without electricity or transportation.
Climate change is real, and the storms are coming.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
Image courtesy of Marvel Studios and Disney.
Starring Florence Pugh as unhappy Yelena Belova, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as evil Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Hannah John-Kamen as space warping Ava Starr, David Harbour as lovable Alexei Shostakov the Red Guardian, Sebastian Stan as Congressman Bucky Barnes with the super arm, Wyatt Russell as Captain America wannabe John Walker, Lewis Pullman as bipolar Robert Reynolds, Geraldine Viswanathan as implementer of evil Mel, and others. Directed by Jake Schreier. 2 hours 6 minutes. Rated PG-13. Theatrical release.
Plot summary: Three former foes, the reformed Winter Soldier, and a father figure-like limo driver team up to help Bob (aka Robert), a Super Man-like personage, lift himself from the pit of despair to keep himself, themselves, and at least a part of New York from getting consumed by the Blackness of Past Bad Deeds and Regrets which he generated.
Mladen’s take
This feels weird. I’m writing my first Movie Faceoff without the Face Off. Del, for some mealy and vague reason, chose not to see “Thunderbolts*”. Too bad, Stone, it’s a pretty good piece of moviemaking. And, yeah, it helped that Dusty and I saw the film in a Dolby-equipped theater. Lots of gunfire, explosions, concrete fracturing, metal twisting, and a crane falling from great height make for terrific entertainment when you can feel the noise throughout your body.
“Thunderbolts*” is an odd superhero film. Sure, even the B-tier superheroes portrayed in this movie are way more capable than your average Joe but, if the film has any message about the wonders of having exceptional power, it’s this: One’s mental health is important, too. It wasn’t until I mentally accepted the movie’s premise that I was able to sit back, legs reclined, to enjoy the vast chaos unfolding before my eyes on a two-story screen.
Two characters in particular made the movie enjoyable, though all the acting is good.
Louis-Dreyfus’s de Fontaine, the director of the CIA and mastermind of a program to make the next superhero because the Avengers are gone, is an immaculate evil-doer. De Fontaine takes the hunger for power and her self-image as America’s savior to the next level. She plays with fire again and again without getting burned. Hell, she even tries to overpower Bob through the con games of persuasion, motherly guilt, and intellectual bravado and, get this, survives. Impressive. Why? Because Bob is starting to realize he doesn’t have to listen to anybody about anything. Why? Because he can kick anybody’s ass anytime. In fact, he can kick multiple asses at the same time as a neat fight sequence about half-way through “Thunderbolts*” demonstrates.
Harbour as the Red Guardian is an ox of a man with a heart as big. He also has a sense of humour, ah, humor. He is the film’s light-hearted comic relief, extracting optimism from a flood of bad news at every turn and spraying the hope again and again that everything will be OK. The Red Guardian does all of that without getting campy. Stick around for the two scenes as the credits roll. He’s great in both.
I suppose the film’s focus on the debilitating effects of traumatic childhood events and the feeling of purposelessness in adult life should be commended. That both are central to the plot of “Thunderbolts*”, a film that falls squarely in the superhero genre, is captivating, sort of. Maybe it’s even cathartic. Many people believe what they see in movies is true. A superhero suffering from mental illness shows regular folks that depression can afflict anyone, that it’s not a weakness or a character flaw. But, in the film, the effort to depict the psychological impact of a troubled mind as a tangible fixture of, I don’t know, the Marvel multiverse, leads to confusing imagery and hyper-kinetic action amid the clutter of moving rapidly from one space to another with intermittent bouts of shattering glass and walls disappearing and such. It is a jumble of “Inception”-like confusion. Thank goodness for the Dolby-amplified noise that came along with those scenes. The sound effects rendered those parts of the film only mildly frustrating.
Also, I’m irritated by the asterisk in the title of the movie. Anyone know what it means? I didn’t see a footnote at the bottom of the movie poster or as the credits rolled explaining the asterisk. So, I’m guessing that the asterisk provokes the question about what’s next for Marvel. Come on, Disney, are the gang of five mostly do-gooders in “Thunderbolts*” the new Avengers or are they not?
Film grade: B
Mladen Rudman is a former journalist and technical writer. Del Stone Jr. is a former journalist and writer.
To quote MAGA, “The Ford Motor Company is bringing back four factories, and 25,000 good-paying jobs as a result of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“But go ahead, liberals. Keep telling us tariffs don’t work.”
Well, OK.
The Ford Motor Company is NOT bringing back four factories, and 25,000 good-paying jobs, as a result of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
It’s not bringing back four factories, and 25,000 good-paying jobs at all.
That story is a fake, a hoax, a joke story posted on a humor website.
But go ahead, MAGA. Keep telling us tariffs work as you stand there, looking like a complete idiot, waiting for Rapunzel to let her hair down.
You people are ignorant.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
The other day, as President Brandon gleefully slashed funding for NPR and PBS, he posed a rhetorical question:
Why should a coal miner have to pay for PBS?
Ignoring the obvious implication that coal miners are too stupid to enjoy anything as intellectual as PBS, I would point out that when you use that kind of rhetorical gambit, you’d better be prepared to respond to that kind of rhetorical gambit.
So I have a few questions for President Brandon.
Why should I have to pay for you to play golf?
Why should I have to pay for your wife to live in splendor in New York City?
Why should I have to pay for a South African billionaire to wreck the government and steal our data?
Why should I have to pay the salaries of the criminals, morons, imbeciles, thieves, liars, cheats and scumbags you’ve hired to work in your administration?
You see, President Brandon, I don’t mind some of my tax dollars going toward any effort by our government to educate and ennoble the population. I feel like an educated and ennobled population makes for an educated and ennobled society, and that’s the kind of society I want to live in. You wouldn’t know anything about an educated and ennobled society, because you don’t know anything about education or nobility.
You’re just trash.
And by the way, President Brandon. I’ll bet there are lots of coal miners who enjoy PBS and NPR.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .