Could it be the MAGAts are just full of shit?
If George Soros is the evil mastermind the MAGAts make him out to be, why isn’t he buying up elections, like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel?
Why isn’t he doing that?
Could it be he isn’t the evil mastermind the MAGAts make him out to be?
Could it be the MAGAts are full of shit?
I think that’s the most likely explanation.
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 .
From now on, when I hear a so-called Christian, conservative, MAGAt, or Republican attack the LGBTQ community for “indoctrinating” our children to the gay “lifestyle,” or “grooming” children, I’m going to assume they’re hiding something. Because as often as not, they are.
Take, for instance, Mr. Corey DeAngelis, proud advocate of school choice and a member of the Cato Institute, a frequent LGBTQ critic on Fox News and, as it would seem, a former gay porn star who went by the name of Seth Rose during his performance in the unforgettable “Jerk Off Race” and another memorable feature.
When confronted with his past, Mr. DeAngelis did what all so-called Christians, conservatives, MAGAts and Republicans do when they are confronted with their hypocrisy: He denied, deflected, said he was misled and taken advantage of when he was younger – blah blah blah. They never own their mistakes. They always blame it on somebody else. And if they’re Christian, they usually try to tell you that because they have come clean with Jesus, who has forgiven them for past sins, they are now free to judge and condemn others.
Mr. DeAngelis is just one of a number of recent misbehaving so-called Christians, conservatives, MAGAts and Republicans. I suppose you’ve heard the rumor that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has a Grindr profile (for those of you who don’t know, Grindr is a gay sex hook-up app). I don’t know if there’s any truth to that rumor but it wouldn’t surprise me. You may recall that last year, when the Republicans held their national convention in Wisconsin, so many of them were using Grindr they crashed the app.
Then there was the pastor of the mega-church who was arrested for molesting little girls, and who could forget the manager of the Chick-fil-A who allegedly drove hundreds of miles to have sex with an underage teenage boy?
I don’t know what it is about being a so-called Christian, conservative, MAGAt or Republican that represses these people to the point they publicly attack the very thing they’re doing behind the scenes, but I’m tired of being victimized by their psychological and behavioral dysfunction. They seem to traffick exclusively in misery, pain and suffering.
From now on, when I hear a so-called Christian, conservative, MAGAt or Republican attack the LGBTQ community, I’ll assume they’re doing it because their own lives are so goddamned miserable from hiding what they do in the shadows.
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 .
It’s no surprise to anyone with half a brain that Donald Trump is now talking about a third term.
He shouldn’t have even been allowed to finish his first term. Didn’t he commit his first felony before leaving the inauguration platform?
And then a second term? My God, I still can’t believe a convicted felon was allowed to run for president. Makes you proud to be an American, right?
If he “serves” (himself) a third term, how old will he be? He already looks like the Crypt Keeper with a thyroid problem. He doesn’t need a nurse to take his blood pressure – he needs an archaeologist. He’s old enough to have owned slaves. And if he’s incontinent now, think what it’ll be like four years from now. The Secret Service will have to follow him around with a front-end loader filled with kitty litter.
Fortunately we won’t have to worry about a third term because there are a couple of significant obstacles in his way. For starters there’s the 22nd Amendment, which forbids anyone from serving a third term.
Some of the MAGAts have floated the idea of running JD Vance, Naval call-sign “Couch Fucker,” as president in 2028 with Trump as his running mate. On inauguration day Vance would step down and Trump would ascend to the throne.
Ah, but there’s a problem with that, too – the 12th Amendment, which says anybody unqualified to run for president is barred from the vice presidency. Of course we’ve known Humpty Trumpty was unqualified from Day 1 but a third of the country was too stupid to understand the memo.
It’s unlikely those amendments can be overturned. That would require the support of two thirds of the House, two thirds of the Senate, and three out of every four states. Not everyone has drunk Trump’s Toilet Bowl flavor of Kool-Aid, so the MAGAts will have to throw out the Constitution altogether to keep Trump in the Oval Office. By that time he’ll be a disembodied head floating in a vat of Trump Vegetable Soup.
Back in the early ’70s, when Richard Nixon was running for re-election, we had a little ditty that went something like this:
Richard Nixon in ’72,
Don’t change Dicks in the middle of a screw.
I haven’t thought of a limerick for Trump, but I’ll come up with something. Four more years of that human garbage disposal is bad enough, but eight?
Barf.
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 .
In November 2000 Florida played a pivotal role in the election of George W. Bush as president of the United States.
On April 1, 2025, Florida can atone for that sin in a special election to fill two U.S. House seats. One is in District 6 and pits Democratic candidate Joshua Weil against Republican Randy Fine to fill the congressional seat vacated by Michael Waltz, who is now Donald Trump’s national security adviser. The other is in our own District 1, where Democrat Gay Valimont hopes to beat Republican Jimmy Patronis for the seat once held by Matt Gaetz, who resigned to be Trump’s attorney general.
If the Democrats win both seats they’ll reduce the Republican majority in the House to only three votes, which would severely constrain Trump’s efforts to steal our democracy.
I live in District 1 and I’ve looked into the candidacies of both Valimont and Patronis. You could not ask for a more stark contrast between two candidates.
Patronis has not once presented any idea or suggestion as to how he might represent the people of District 1 or make their lives better. All he has done is wrap himself in the flag of Donald Trump and blathered about how the Democrats hate MAGA.
Valimont, on the other hand, has a wealth of ideas.
For instance, she wants to locate a VA hospital in the Florida panhandle. That makes sense, given the panhandle’s large population of military personnel, both active duty and retired. To the west, in Escambia County, we have Pensacola Naval Air Station. In the county adjoining Escambia, Santa Rosa, lies Whiting Field, a Navy flight training school. To the far east is Tyndall Air Force Base. Here in Okaloosa County we have Eglin Air Force Base, the largest by area Air Force base in the world; Hurlburt Field, an Air Force special operations base; Duke Field, for the Air Force Reserve; an Army cantonment for the 7th Special Forces, and the Destin Coast Guard station at the foot of the Marler Bridge.
The nearest VA hospital is in Biloxi, Miss. My father, when he was being treated for cancer, had to drive to Biloxi, about 2½ hours west of Fort Walton Beach. The VA has a clinic at Eglin but not a hospital.
Valimont also wants to protect the military mission, from Eglin’s water test ranges to military benefits for both active duty and retired, and the F-35 program, which Trump has threatened to cut.
She also wants to reinstate President Joe Biden’s cap on insulin costs. When Biden was president, insulin was capped at $35 per dose. When Trump was elected he eliminated that cap and now insulin costs vary widely, depending on whether a patient has insurance, what kind of insurance they have, and who the insulin supplier is.
Valimont says she has a plan for reducing the cost of homeowner’s insurance by 25 percent. As you know, homeowner’s insurance is a very big deal here in the state of Florida, where hurricanes have driven up the costs of insuring a house to the point where many homeowners are simply going without. My policy runs me about $4,000 per year, so a 25 percent cut would save me about $1,000.
Democrats have a long tradition of looking out for the interests of Northwest Florida. Back when I was a kid, Bob Sikes, the old he-coon, protected the panhandle’s military mission and generally looked after the folks who live here. My impression is Valimont wants to fill a similar role.
So on April 1, 2025, I’ll be voting for Gay Valimont. If you live in Florida’s District 1 I hope you’ll do the same. If you live in District 6 please consider voting for Josh Weil.
Together, we can strike a blow for the preservation of freedom and democracy in this country.
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 .
Elon Musk. Image by Gage Skidmore. CC license
I think the honeymoon between Diaper Donnie and his master, Elon Musk, will come to an end sometime this year.
Musk is sinking in the polls faster than a Model 3 driven off a short pier. His approval rating is so low you’d need a front-end loader to excavate it. At some point Diaper Donnie will realize Musk is like an anchor, dragging him down, and he’ll cut him loose. That’s what Diaper Donnie does.
Musk deserves to be cut loose because he’s doing a terrible job. It’s almost comical. Were it not for Musk’s ego he could have looked to the recent past to see how a government efficiency campaign can be done correctly.
In the early 1990s, when Bill Clinton was elected, he appointed his vice president, Al Gore, to head up an effort to make the government more efficient and cost-effective. Gore formed a commission of experts to study the problem and get back to the president and Congress with a plan of action.
After months of examination, Gore and his National Performance Review staff presented a list of almost 400 recommendations for trimming agencies, combining services and cutting the federal workforce. The NPR report was made available to Congress and the president. It enjoyed bi-partisan support and received Clinton’s endorsement.
In the end, agencies were combined, others were eliminated, and almost 400,000 FTEs were trimmed from the federal workforce. The government saved so much money that Clinton and Congress were able to balance the budget – for years – and there were actually surpluses to pay down the debt.
Contrast that with Musk’s approach.
He didn’t hire a committee of experts. He threw together a bunch of college dropouts, teenage boys and former Twitter employees who went through the government workforce with a virtual chainsaw, firing workers en masse without even understanding their jobs or how they did them. In some cases the severances had to be reversed – at cost to the government – when Musk’s bottom boys discovered they had fired workers with critical responsibilities and irreplaceable knowledge resources essential to the operation of particular agencies.
DOGE has conducted its efforts without congressional oversight and Musk refuses to tell overseers what he’s doing or how he’s doing it. Communication of DOGE methods and intentions has been non-existent beyond a notorious press conference with a confused Diaper Donnie, where Musk spoke in vague platitudes and seemed to use his young son as stagecraft. The victims of DOGE’s bureaucratic clear-cutting have been treated like criminals – shown the door or offered buyouts under threat. Musk has made claims of waste, fraud and abuse that were later debunked, and he’s tossed out numbers that turned out to be erroneous. He has eliminated entities that exert regulatory control over his business interests, an outrageous conflict of interest that has gone unpunished by the current regime.
The result has been what you would expect – chaos, suspicion, acrimony and no small degree of fear on the part of federal employees facing the DOGE Sword of Damocles, and the American people, who wonder if their benefits will be eliminated and their private information auctioned off by this unelected foreign national currently hollowing out the federal government. By some accounts Musk’s circus has cost the American taxpayers over $500 billion – talk about waste, fraud and abuse!
All this is being “overseen” and encouraged by Il Duce, Diaper Donnie, who is hands down the worst president the lowing, bleating, blundering “electorate” of this country has ever allowed to enter the White House. In fact, there are no words to characterize the disaster that man represents. Our country will never be the same and that’s not a legacy to be proud of. If there was ever an argument for requiring a license to vote, Diaper Donnie is it.
But he could fix at least some of it. He’s fond of saying, “You’re fired.” Well, that’s exactly what he should say to Elon Musk and his troupe of Differin-addicted clown boys. Musk, and DOGE, have been an unmitigated disaster.
It’s past time to pull the plug.
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 .
I’ve got a question for the MAGAts:
The other day I filled up the gas tank on my car. The price seemed kind of high so I checked – gas was 23 cents a gallon higher on Wednesday than it was on Jan. 20, 2025, when Joe Biden left office.
Why is that?
I thought your boy, Diaper Donnie, was going to fix all that! Isn’t that what he said? Prices will come down? On day one?
He can’t use the pandemic as an excuse. The United States is the world’s number one producer of oil, so he can’t use that as an excuse. America leads the world in exploring for new oil resources, so he can’t even use that for an excuse.
It’s like the price of eggs. Didn’t he say he was going to lower to the price of eggs? Because I checked this week – eggs are A DOLLAR higher now than they were when Sleepy Joe left office. A DOLLAR!
I don’t get it. Gas prices are higher. Egg prices are higher. Unemployment is higher. Inflation is higher. The only things lower are the stock market and consumer confidence.
Trump said he would lower the price of eggs. Then he said we might have to go through some temporary pain before prices come down. Now he’s saying he wishes people would stop bitching about the price of eggs.
Wow, what an accomplishment. I’m so glad you, ahem, “intellectually impaired individuals” elected Donald Trump president.
He really is making America “great” again.
Or is that “grate”?
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 .
A couple of alarming developments:
1. The Trump regime has decided any law firm engaging in frivolous litigation will be sanctioned by the federal government, meaning the firm’s attorneys would lose their security clearances and the firm itself would be barred from government contracts. The regime decides which lawsuits are frivolous.
This is the stuff of banana republics. Litigation is the last and best defense against the Trump regime’s abuses of power.
2. Americans re-entering the country are subject to having their electronic devices searched at the discretion of security personnel.
Anything you might have in your phone is now available for scrutiny by the government.
While this has always been the case, the Trump regime has weaponized the inspection of electronic devices, denying entry to non-citizens and harassing citizens whose devices contain media critical of the regime.
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
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 I saw a video of our new attorney general, Pam Bondi – you know, that Stepford Wife – on one of those so-called news-opinion TV shows – I think it was Fox News (of course) – warning Americans that attacks on Tesla dealerships and Elon Musk would incur the full wrath of the Justice Department.
(For the record, people shouldn’t be torchingTeslas or threatening Musk’s life. But if they want to boycott Tesla and sell their Tesla stock, more power to them! Free markets, private sector, capitalism, rah rah!)
As I watched Attorney General Bimbette go through the motions of representing the nation’s legal interests while in actuality supporting a fascist junta, I said to myself, “Gosh, if she only cared as much about innocent schoolchildren being gunned down in their classrooms by maniacs with assault rifles.
“If she only had the same level of concern for members of the LGBTQ community who are being harassed, beaten and murdered by men who drive great big pickup trucks and have teensy weensy wee-wees.
“And if only the law was being as vigorously applied to her own boss, who is defying a judge’s order that he answer questions about a group of deportees sent to a prison in El Salvador.”
Or is it that the law only protects those who belong to their little club of ass-kissers and taint-lickers? Is that what’s going on, Pammy Pammy?
If I could give Bondi a piece of advice it would be this: Next time you go on TV, check your makeup. You had some kind of orange slime around the edge of your lips.
It wasn’t a good look for you.
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 .
My philosophy has always been: Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
That’s what I’m doing right now as I listen to Democrats talk about regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives as a result of the April 1 special election in the state of Florida. Two House seats, one in District 6, the other in our very own District 1, are up for grabs. In the District 1 race here in the Panhandle, Democrat Gay Valimont is running against Republican Jimmy Patronis.
I’m seeing the same level of delusion among Democrats as I did in the run-up to the presidential election in November 2024. Truth is, as much as I’d like to see Valimont win, I think her chances of doing that are about the same as my chances of being named People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive, which is to say it ain’t gonna happen.
I say that because I know the people of District 1.
They’re conservative beyond a conservative’s definition of “conservative.” They love Republicans, and they adore Donald Trump.
Donald Trump could take a match and set fire to the actual Constitution of the United States and they’d still vote for him.
Russian shock troops could be marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, assault rifles clutched to their chests, and they’d still vote for Donald Trump.
MAGA brownshirts could swarm over the Florida Panhandle, confiscating their cheap beer, porn, and keys to their boats (well, that one might actually piss them off), and they’d still vote for Donald Trump.
They’d vote for a syphilis-afflicted Beezelbub before they’d vote for a Democrat.
On April 1 I’ll be voting for Gay Valimont, and I hope lots of other people do too. But I’m not deluding myself about her chances.
I’m hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.
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 .
Dear William Hatfield: You once said, “Better living through technology” and I have never forgiven you for that.
William, have you seen my hair lately? It’s all white. I look like I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the ghost of Donald Trump standing by my bedside and … oh, wait. Donald Trump isn’t ghost-adjacent, at least not yet.
William, maybe technology works for you, but for me, Lieutenant Col. Luddite, it’s like screaming at the AI-generated phone tree ’bot that asks, “Do you want to speak to a customer service representative?” to which I respond, “YES! YES! For the 10,653rd time, YES!” and then the ’bot chirps, “Let me transfer you to a new automated menu!”
Not gray hair, William. White hair.
I decided to take your advice and apply the “better living through technology” ideology to my bill-paying. Every month I sat down with a pile of bills – gas, electric, phone, water, TV, internet – and dutifully wrote my paper checks, even balancing my checkbook the old-fashioned way, because all the crossword puzzles, Wheel of Fortune and Prevagen was not helping this withered, atrophied old brain. And then I dutifully deposited these written-on-paper checks in their stamped envelopes and dropped them in that good old-fashioned mailbox, where they were promptly dumped in a wooded area by a disgruntled postal worker taking a stand against “the man.”
So I thought: “Wouldn’t it be easier if these bills were paid directly from my checking account?” Actually, no, it would NOT be easier, but I was determined to live better through technology, so I dove into the world of “auto pay.” Not “bill pay.” They may both have something to do with banks, but auto pay is as different from bill pay as I am different from Timothee Chalamet. We may both be males, but I think it’s a safe bet he does better on the dating apps than I.
So I set up my bills to be paid automatically from my checking account and for the most part it was a pain-free process, except in one case the utility “forgot” my account and started sending me paper bills again, and I expect my water to be cut off any day now from non-payment because I haven’t seen an email from them in weeks.
Next came the credit card bills. Cue the music from “Jaws.”
I have two credit cards. One gives me cash back. The other gives me points I can use at Amazon – and I better not get any grief for shopping at Amazon. I would LOVE to shop at a local business, or even a not-local business. But everybody is so busy living better through technology that they shop online, which in retail terms means Fort Walton Beach has the same beachfront acreage as the Gobi Desert. I HAVE to shop at Amazon.
The first credit card was a simple, 5-minute process. The second? It reminded me of the Apollo 13 mission. “Complex” doesn’t begin to describe. “Infuriating,” “frustrating,” “unintuitive” or even “turning your hair from gray to white” are the words that come to mind.
It was a THREE-DAY process. It involved multiple calls to the bank’s 800 number. A trip to the bank, where the customer service representative tried to tell me (a) it would be easier to set it up from my host bank than THEIR bank because THEIR bank had an antiquated computer system that didn’t like other computer systems. Their computer system IS antiquated. It reminds me of the computer system in place when I started working at the Playgound Daily News in 1979 (Yes, William, I know you weren’t even born in 1979, but trust me. We had a computer system at the newspaper back then. I think there were gerbils in the operating system.) Then (b) she tried to tell me their website had all the answers to my questions (I am shaking my head “no” and smiling ruefully).
So she and I got on the phone with their bank’s “customer service” representatives and even SHE could not get the right information. We were transferred, put on hold, listened to some really awful hold music, and it was not until we were connected with a department that had NOTHING to do with my request that we finally got some resolution.
But wait, we weren’t done. Oh no, there was more. They had to send some test deposits to my account, then make a test withdrawal. After that, I had to re-enter the digital version of Mordor and request some kind of epay ca-ca, verify my checking account (the one they just sent the tests to), then tell it how much to pay every month, plus when to pay.
Three days, William! Three days I’ve been working this problem. And now that it’s over I feel like I should be handed some kind of an award, you know, like a Medal of Persistence with Just for Men clusters.
And guess what? That credit card expires next year. I may have to go through this ALL. OVER. AGAIN.
Next time I’m calling you. You can handle it. Your hair isn’t white – last time I saw it, anyway. I’m digging this “getting old and being helpless” thing.
OK, time for me to go. There’s a warm cup of milk and some Metamucil calling my name. Don’t call or text me, William, because the phone will be in the other room, on the charger. You know how we old farts are.
Every now and again we like to take a break from the benefits of technology.
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 .