I like cake but I don’t want to eat it every day

If you’re not a fan of my daily rants, I get that. Some people want social media to be an escape, an oasis of positivity or just fun entertainment. Nothing wrong with that.

I see it this way: My country slides into fascism only once, and it’s my duty to #resist in every way possible, from calling my senators and congresslizard to volunteering for the loyal opposition and, yes, evangelizing online. I plan to continue these posts for as long as I can stomach doing it, or until I’m banned from this platform … or arrested.

Which brings me to today’s subject.

I’m on all the major social media platforms – this one, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, Twitter (yes, I still call it “Twitter”), TikTok, YouTube – and it seems in all those venues, I’m surrounded by pain and suffering. WAIT! Don’t be one of those condescending twits who says, “The algorithm gives you what you ask for.” I’m aware of that. I’m also aware that I happen to give a shit about things. It ain’t all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows.

This social media gloom is coming from people who’ve lost their jobs – they’ve been laid off or fired. Government workers, civil servants, former park service personnel, nuclear facility workers, aid workers, employees of the FAA and so on. I guess what infuriates me more than anything else is the reason for these firings. They’re not being done because the nation has hit a wall and the budget must be balanced or the debt paid down.

It’s so the Republicans can take the money they save by dismantling the government and give it to people like Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos in the form of a big, fat, juicy tax cut.

They’re not balancing the budget or paying down the debt. They’re making it worse, borrowing another $4 trillion to $5 trillion. Did you know every year, a chunk of the federal budget amounting to about 17 percent goes to PAY THE INTEREST on the debt?

I wonder just how much of this punishment we’re expected to take? They’re wrecking the economy, destroying our foreign relations and making life in this country damn near impossible for anybody who earns less than a couple of hundred grand a month. What are the rest of us supposed to do? Die?

Yesterday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in protest of what’s happening in this country. You barely saw mention of it in the media. Rachel Maddow – I hear she’s giving the protests extensive coverage. The media are focused on the weather, not the upheaval in our government.

It’s massively frustrating, and it’s depressing. I was hoping in my old age I could live in a country that cared about people, and the future. Certainly not this bitter kleptocracy.

I like cake, guys, but I’m not going to eat it every day.

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 .