Esoteric Meandering Shouting Into the Void

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Honestly, I can’t believe more people aren’t catching on. We’ve got a guy sitting in the Oval Office who has turned the presidency into a glorified merch stand, and somehow folks are treating him like George Washington reincarnated. The White House, once a symbol of democracy, is now basically a gift shop. You half-expect to walk in and see racks of “Make America Great Again” golf towels next to the Lincoln Bedroom. Forget the Library of Congress—what this man really wants is the Catalog of Trump.

And people are still buying it! Literally. Trump Won flags, Trump 2024 hats, Trump wine, Trump steaks, Trump golden sneakers—if you can slap his name on it, he’ll sell it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they start offering “Trump Holy Water” bottled from the White House plumbing, only $49.99 a pop. It’s not politics; it’s a traveling circus where the price of admission is blind loyalty and your credit card number.

What blows my mind is that people still walk around with those flags, like carrying an off-brand superhero cape somehow proves patriotism. You’ve got caravans of trucks waving “TRUMP” in letters bigger than the American flag itself, and no one stops to think: huh, maybe this isn’t about the country at all. Nope—it’s about worshiping at the altar of Trump, where every prayer comes with a matching coffee mug.

Meanwhile, the guy himself is laughing all the way to the bank. He doesn’t care about infrastructure, healthcare, education, or any of that boring stuff. He cares about moving units. You’re not citizens to him—you’re customers. Repeat customers, at that, because nothing keeps the cult fire burning like a fresh shipment of poorly stitched hats made overseas. And every purchase is a tithe in the Church of Trump, where the hymns are angry rally chants and the communion wafer is a $35 T-shirt.

And let’s not even pretend this is subtle. This isn’t some clever backroom deal. This is a full-blown, neon-lit, cash-register-ringing grift. He’s managed to turn democracy into QVC, and people are still eating it up like it’s Sunday brunch. Imagine Teddy Roosevelt selling teddy bears from the Resolute Desk. Or Lincoln hawking stovepipe hats on a street corner. But with Trump? Totally normal. Just another day of “governance.”

So no, he’s not some divine patriot sent to rescue America. He’s a walking billboard, a human infomercial, a guy who has convinced half the country that buying his merch is the same as saving the nation. And the wild part? They believe it. They wave their flags, they empty their wallets, and they bow down not to a president, but to the ultimate grifter-in-chief.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

The long, hot days of summer are behind us, and with the arrival of crisp mornings, colorful leaves, and pumpkin-flavored everything, one thing is certain: football is back. In America, fall and football go hand in hand, almost like Thanksgiving and turkey. The moment the calendar flips to September, stadium lights flicker on, parking lots fill with tailgaters, and living rooms everywhere transform into shrines of team loyalty.

College towns erupt with marching bands and rivalries that run deeper than family feuds, while professional stadiums roar with tens of thousands of fans, each convinced their team is finally destined for glory this year. Whether you follow the NFL, college ball, or even just your local high school team, the game’s return marks a seasonal reset—a cultural ritual we anticipate as much as the changing weather.

Football isn’t just about the sport itself. It’s about the shared experience. Friends gather around televisions, families plan their weekends around kickoff times, and entire communities rally behind their teams. Tailgates, fantasy leagues, heated debates over coaching decisions—all of these make football season less of a pastime and more of a national obsession.

The drama is part of the appeal: the underdog upsets, the last-second field goals, the heartbreaking injuries, and the moments of pure athletic brilliance. In a way, football season gives us a story that unfolds week by week, with millions of Americans tuned in to watch the highs and lows together.

So as the leaves fall and the air cools, football takes center stage once again. Whether your team is rebuilding or chasing a championship, the return of the season gives us a reason to cheer, to argue, and to hope. After all, it’s fall—and in America, that means football.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Hydrogen is not just the most abundant element on Earth — it may also be the key to saving our planet from climate disaster. While people talk about solar panels, wind farms, and electric cars, hydrogen often hides in the background. But if we are serious about a green revolution, hydrogen is not just an option; it is a necessity.

The first reason is clear: hydrogen is a clean fuel. When we burn coal or oil, we choke the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, the gas most responsible for global warming. When we run cars on gasoline, we poison the air with smog and greenhouse gases. But when hydrogen is used in a fuel cell, the only byproduct is pure water. No smoke, no carbon, no pollution. In other words, hydrogen offers us the dream of energy without guilt. If we are looking for a true replacement for fossil fuels, hydrogen is the only fuel that delivers power and leaves the air cleaner than before.

Second, hydrogen solves the biggest weakness of renewable energy: storage. The sun does not shine 24 hours a day, and the wind does not blow on command. Batteries help, but they are costly, heavy, and wear out over time. Hydrogen, however, can act as a limitless energy vault. We can take extra electricity from solar panels or wind turbines, use it to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and store that hydrogen for later. When night falls or the wind calms, hydrogen can be converted back into energy on demand. No other fuel matches this flexibility.

Third, hydrogen is versatile. It can power cars, trucks, and buses, but it doesn’t stop there. It can run cargo ships, airplanes, and heavy industries like steelmaking, which today rely on dirty coal and natural gas. It can even heat homes and provide backup power for entire cities. Unlike electric batteries, which are limited mostly to cars and small devices, hydrogen can serve every corner of our energy system. Imagine a world where the gas station, the factory, and even the kitchen stove all run on the same clean fuel. That is the hydrogen vision.

Of course, critics will point out that hydrogen is expensive today. They are right. Most hydrogen is still made from natural gas, which creates carbon emissions. But this is not a reason to abandon hydrogen — it is a reason to invest in green hydrogen, made by splitting water with renewable power. Every new technology, from cars to computers, was costly in the beginning. Prices fall when nations commit to scaling up. If we make the choice now, hydrogen will soon be as cheap as fossil fuels, without the deadly side effects.

The truth is simple: without hydrogen, the green revolution will remain unfinished. Solar and wind may light our homes, but they cannot decarbonize ships, planes, and heavy industry on their own. Hydrogen can. It is clean, abundant, flexible, and waiting to be unlocked. If we want a future that is not just sustainable but thriving, we must crown hydrogen as the fuel of tomorrow.

Hydrogen is not just part of the solution — it is the solution.

Dwain Northey ( Gen X)

The MAGA movement, for all its bluster about loyalty and unshakable faith in their chosen God-King, is built on the same brittle foundation as every cult of personality: fear, self-interest, and the promise of power. Loyalty lasts only as long as the checks clear, the rallies feel like Woodstock with red hats, and the illusion of invincibility remains intact. The moment the ship starts tilting, history tells us, the rats start sprinting for the lifeboats, claws bared, shoving one another into the waves.

Predictions? The unraveling is already underway. The first wave of defectors will be those who were always half in, half out—professional opportunists like certain senators and governors who rode the MAGA train for votes but never bought the hat for personal wear. They’ll start speaking in “regretful tones,” offering soft critiques while insisting they “still respect the base.” Expect this within six months of Trump’s next major public embarrassment—whether it’s a legal defeat, an electoral flop, or a health scare that proves the King bleeds like any other mortal.

The second wave will be the loyalists who suddenly remember they have “deep reservations” and were “concerned all along.” These will be the loudest hypocrites, elbowing each other for the microphone as they proclaim, with crocodile tears, that the movement betrayed them. That stage takes another year, maybe two.

Finally, the diehards will fracture. A few will remain tattooed with the man’s name until their graves, but most will splinter into mini-tribes, each crowning a new wannabe strongman. By that point, MAGA will no longer be a coherent movement—just a political shipwreck with survivors fighting over the last scraps of influence.

So, to answer plainly: the sinking has started. The kicking begins the minute the water reaches their ankles.

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

A new wrinkle in the methods of getting people out of the country, now we are going to denaturalize individuals that we deem to be unfit. Who do you suppose they will target first? The person that has committed a crime like robbery or worse? Some one that runs a business that violates some rule like DEI or whatever? How about an individual that has been elected to Congress but represents the opposition? What a crook of crap this administration is has been pointed out in so many ways and it just gets worse. This rule, or law, or whatever you call it has popped up and most likely been overlooked because of all the other shit that been hitting the fan, and yet it could be so very devistating to many among us. The brutal methods used on people by ICE or whoever the MASKED men, they ain't the Lone Ranger, are show that they want someone to show even the slightest resistance so they can then be as brutal as possible. How much are these guys being paid to sink into the cesspool of subhumanity that is required to be an agent? One day we will see this rein of terror come to an end and when we do all records of who these guys are should be made public and all of them should be awarded the kind of prize they deserve. Let your imagination run wild as to what you feel those prizes should be. For starters I would expect that once this career goies away and they become known that they never get another job, cannot apply for assistance and the list goes on. Not only will this be negative for them but their families are not going to be very forgiving at that point. If any of you HERO's are reading this just keep in mind that what goes around comes around and your windfall today will very likely be your downfall tomorrow. These conformation hearings for some of the most unqualified people to fill important positions keeps moving along like a very dangerous snake. Why do the idiots keep voting for these people? If Trump has the stroke to primary everyone then all of you should make him put his money and his inflluence on the table. Think about what his tariff policies are doing to coorporations and the wealthy owners behind them. Do you honestly believe that his influence is still high enough to go after all that are up for reelection? We all know the GOP has for years tried to destroy every public supportive program and oganization we have, an yet when and if they considered that without the middle and lower classes they would have nothing it would seem obvious that their effort to destroy those programs in pretty much like committing self destruction. Keep on with all these negative efforts and watch as the world shrinks. When you can no longer go to other countries because we Americans are no longer welcome. When there are no venues to entertain you grandchildren becasue there are no people to man Disneyland and all you have left are some golf courses, possibly overgrown as there are not labor personnel to keep things up. Without those that do the work all the money in the world is just as useless as statement coming from your great leader, pure unaulterated bullshit. Another issue that seems to be getting some attention, not necessarily positive attention, is that of younger people getting involved in politics. Well guess what, they need to get involved as they are going to inherit this mess very soon. There are younger people in the current administration but most are not terribly well versed in government, or the Constitution. They are also overly impressed that daddy dump picked them to be in certain positions, not because they are qualified but because they kiss ass. The impression is that everyone working for Trump is pleased with the fact that, although they are unqualified, are happy to be in these positions so they can be the school yard bully as long as they don't challenge daddy. The consequences of this gross stupidity are currently being visited upon the populace but when the power change happens those consequences are going to be dumped in the laps of the idiots that so happily signed on to the job of stooge. It may take time to get all of them punished but the fact that you get to spend your life looking over your shoulder waiting for the hammer to fall won't be any fun. This administration has done it's best to destroy our Democracy and when we get it back the destruction will be visited on those that did the bidding of a fool.

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

Ah yes, let’s all rise and salute the good old days when Barry Goldwater’s campaign ad had schoolchildren reciting the Pledge of Allegiance like little wind-up patriot dolls. Because nothing says “freedom” like mandatory loyalty chants. Do we still do that? Of course! And if some lawmakers had their way, not only would kids be pledging allegiance every morning, they’d be kneeling before a golden tablet of the Ten Commandments mounted above the Smartboard. Forget math, forget science—just recite “Thou shalt not kill” before heading off to active-shooter drills. The irony practically screams from the chalkboard: politicians pretending they care about morality while simultaneously passing laws that turn every strip mall into the O.K. Corral. Truly, we live in a master class of hypocrisy that could only be described as Olympic-level stupidity.

Meanwhile, freedom—remember that quaint little concept?—is hanging by a thread. The idea that one party, already mangled beyond recognition, could dominate every part of our lives is no longer a cautionary tale; it’s a business plan. Their economic “program” has already tanked jobs and stunted growth faster than you can say “trickle-down.” And the immigrant raids? Nothing like state-sponsored home invasions to really capture that warm, fuzzy, family-values vibe. Our so-called moral compass is less “north-south” and more “spinning wildly like a broken ceiling fan.” Brute force has now become a lifestyle brand—one part dystopia, one part reality TV, and somehow people are buying the merch.

And what’s the cherry on top of this sundae of national decline? More guns, of course! Because nothing says “problem solved” like flooding the streets with weapons while removing whatever pitiful regulations still exist. The logic here is dazzling: create chaos, then use that chaos as justification for more brute force. It’s the kind of brilliant strategy you’d expect from someone who thinks “Home Alone 2” is a documentary. Civil war cosplay is being openly courted, and the recruits? ICE agents being paid handsomely today, only to become tomorrow’s cannon fodder in a game where the rules are written in crayon.

And let’s not forget the police officers and soldiers being used as chess pieces in this empire-building fantasy. Every day, they wake up to the possibility that they’ll be asked to sacrifice not for liberty, not for justice, but for the fragile ego of a coward who confuses tweeting with leadership. National Guard troops are already signaling: “Hard pass, we’re not dying for your tantrum.” If being King is such a burning passion, then by all means, hand the man a rusty bayonet and point him toward the front line. Spoiler alert: he won’t go. He’ll sit on his gaudy throne, tweeting about his “strength,” while others pay the ultimate price.

And those who follow him blindly? They’re not marching toward greatness; they’re marching straight into the abyss. But hey, at least they’ll have the Ten Commandments framed nicely on the wall while everything else burns to ash.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

We are, without a doubt, living in a collective national state of PTSD courtesy of the first Trump administration. Remember that? Those four years felt like sitting in a chair that’s constantly about to tip backward—not quite falling, but close enough to make your stomach lurch every second of every day. Sure, you didn’t actually fall and break your neck, but you lived with that buzzing anxiety in your chest, like a fire alarm with a dying battery that never, ever stopped chirping. And now, as we gaze down the barrel of yet another potential Trump chapter, it’s less “oh no, I might tip over” and more “oh no, the Mango Moron is about to drive us straight into an active volcano while bragging about how only he could discover magma.”

We used to think politics was boring. The biggest scandal was a senator getting caught with a mistress or a campaign staffer accidentally sending the wrong email. Quaint times, weren’t they? But with Trump, every morning was like spinning the Wheel of Stupidity to find out what flavor of national humiliation we’d be tasting that day. Would it be locking children in cages and then losing track of their parents like mismatched socks? Would it be cozying up to dictators while spitting on long-time allies? Or maybe just some casual Twitter diplomacy, threatening nuclear war in 280 characters because someone hurt his feelings?

And now, the sequel promises to be even worse—because like any bad reality show, Trump knows he’s got to top himself. Who wouldn’t feel traumatized waking up to see headlines like: “Trump Declares War on Argentinian Fishing Boats 11,000 Miles Away” or “President Orders Space Force to Build Wall Around the Moon”? If you’re not living with heart palpitations at this point, check your pulse—you might already be dead.

It’s not just the chaos itself, though—it’s the gaslighting that leaves us all twitching. In Trump World, nothing is ever what it seems. Children in cages? No, those are “summer camps.” Nazis marching with tiki torches? “Very fine people.” A deadly virus killing hundreds of thousands? “Totally under control, like a miracle, it’ll disappear.” And when reality is twisted like a balloon animal every single day, the rest of us are left doubting our sanity. Did that really happen? Did the President of the United States actually suggest injecting bleach? Yes. Yes, he did. And we all need therapy for remembering it.

The worst part is the anticipation—the endless “what now?” dread that makes you jump at shadows. Every time Trump stepped up to a podium, you could feel the country collectively holding its breath, like kids waiting to see if Dad is about to read them a bedtime story or hurl the TV out the window. And when the Mango Moron opened his mouth, it was always the latter. Always.

So yes, America is in a perpetual state of PTSD. We flinch at press conferences. We brace for the next executive order like it’s a hurricane. We eye the news the way a war veteran eyes fireworks—because we know one stupid spark can set off a national catastrophe. Trump didn’t just wreck policy; he wrecked our nervous systems. And now, with the prospect of another four years of this lunacy, it’s not just a chair tipping anymore—it’s the whole damn house sliding into the ocean while Trump stands on the roof, tweeting about how only he can save us from drowning.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Florida has long branded itself as the “Sunshine State,” but somewhere along the way, the glow turned into a spotlight on a parade of bad ideas. For years, it’s been less a beacon of freedom and more the kid in the neighborhood who insists on eating glue and then acts shocked when the stomachache sets in. And leading this crusade into the swamp of terrible policy is none other than Governor Ron DeSantis and his band of yes-men, who’ve managed to make Florida synonymous with political stunts and public health hazards.

It started, at least in the modern chapter, with DeSantis’s war against Disney. You know, Disney—the company responsible for making childhood dreams, family vacations, and mouse-ear hats. But apparently, being tolerant of LGBTQ employees and guests was one magic kingdom too far for the governor. Instead of focusing on things like infrastructure, affordable housing, or climate change (you know, the stuff actually flooding his state), DeSantis threw his weight into punishing the House of Mouse. It was less a bold stand and more like a toddler screaming at his toys because they wouldn’t play his way.

But the Disney debacle was just one act in a much longer-running theater of bad ideas. Florida was one of the earliest adopters of “Stand Your Ground” laws, the kind of legislation that makes gun manufacturers salivate and the rest of us wonder if we’re living in a spaghetti western. These laws have given Floridians the green light to escalate conflicts into shootouts under the guise of self-defense. Predictably, they’ve done wonders for gun violence statistics and absolutely nothing for public safety. But hey, in Florida, it seems every confrontation is just one itchy trigger finger away from becoming headline news.

Then came the great book purge. Because nothing says “freedom” quite like banning books. Across Florida schools, everything from novels about racial history to young adult fiction with LGBTQ characters has been yanked off shelves faster than a library sale on free Slurpee Day. The result? Students are learning less about history, diversity, and critical thinking, and more about how fragile adults can be when confronted with ideas they don’t like.

And just when you thought the state couldn’t possibly top itself, here comes the pièce de résistance: no more vaccine mandates of any kind. That’s right. The governor and his Surgeon General—who seems to think “public health” is a phrase best avoided—have decided that not even children need to be vaccinated to attend school. Forget the decades of progress against measles, chickenpox, whooping cough, or polio. Florida is ready to roll back the clock to the good old days when childhood illnesses spread unchecked and cemeteries filled up faster than theme park parking lots.

What does this mean for the rest of us? Simple: Florida is about to become the kid who poops in the pool. And not just once—repeatedly. Thanks to interstate travel, contagious diseases won’t politely stay behind the state line. Nope, they’ll spread outward like a tourist’s sunburn, carried across the country by snowbirds, spring breakers, and business travelers.

So thank you, Florida. Thank you for reminding us that sunlight isn’t always the best disinfectant. Sometimes it just illuminates the bad decisions in full, glaring detail. And with leadership this committed to being wrong, the only thing we can count on is that the hits—and the diseases—will just keep coming.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Oh, the tragedy. The heartbreak. The utter devastation sweeping across the Fox News set. You almost need to send in FEMA relief teams to mop up all the crocodile tears over the Democrats refusing to “move on” from the Epstein files. Because nothing—and I mean nothing—makes the Benghazi-Hunter’s-Laptop crowd more distraught than when actual victims of actual crimes speak up and refuse to be neatly shelved away like a stack of old campaign yard signs. The poor darlings are simply beside themselves.

After all, Republicans spent years screaming about Hillary’s emails, running endless primetime specials with ominous sound effects and blurry graphics of servers, servers everywhere. Hunter Biden’s laptop? Forget about it. That was their Super Bowl. They could talk about that imaginary laptop like it was the Dead Sea Scrolls, handed down by God Himself and containing every secret of civilization. But now, when actual evidence of crimes—real crimes, involving rich and powerful men abusing minors—threatens to come into daylight? Suddenly, Fox & Friends would prefer if everyone stopped talking and just turned the channel back to immigration panic.

And let’s not forget the star of this soap opera: Donald J. Trump, the man who once promised, cross-his-heart-and-hope-to-grift, that he’d release the Epstein files. Remember that? He was going to shine the cleansing sunlight of truth on the whole sordid affair. But fast-forward to today, and now he’s threatening to prosecute anyone who dares even whisper about opening those files. Because, of course, it’s not about justice or transparency; it’s about protecting the club. You know the club—the Mar-a-Lago cocktail crowd where loyalty is worth more than morality, and “family values” are whatever helps in the polls that week.

Fox commentators are in mourning. You can see it in their faces, hear it in their voices, those brave soldiers who wanted the whole country to obsess over every stray text message from Hunter Biden but now beg us to respect the “privacy” of the Epstein mess. “Why can’t we just move on?” they wail, clutching their pearls so hard you’d think the string would snap. How dare the victims—yes, the actual human beings who were minors when these crimes occurred—make themselves heard? Don’t they know they’re interrupting the regularly scheduled programming about caravans and pronouns?

It’s almost poetic how this crowd manages to contort itself into Olympic-level hypocrisy. When the accused are Democrats, you get 24/7 coverage, complete with countdown clocks and scary red graphics. When the accused might include Republican donors, socialites, or even he-who-must-not-be-subpoenaed himself, suddenly it’s all “witch hunt,” “political theater,” and “weaponization.” They’ve gone from “lock her up” to “please, for the love of Tucker, lock those files back in the safe.”

And the cherry on top? Trump’s threats. The man who once styled himself as the Great Exposer of Secrets now growls that anyone supporting the release of Epstein’s files could face charges in whatever alternate-universe statute he dreams up between golf rounds. Maybe it’ll be “conspiracy to embarrass my friends.” Maybe “felony lack of loyalty.” Or my personal favorite: “first-degree exposure of inconvenient truths.” Whatever it is, you can be sure it’ll sound very serious on Truth Social, especially when written in ALL CAPS.

So yes, pour one out for the Benghazi-Hunter Laptop faithful. Their favorite weapon—moral outrage—is being turned against them, and it hurts. The victims won’t stay quiet, the files might see daylight, and their chosen king is now threatening anyone who dares to call his bluff. If irony were a renewable energy source, Fox News headquarters would be glowing brighter than Times Square.