One Year Later

by on March 10, 2021 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

One year ago, I traveled up north. I got my hair cut before going. I wore a suit. I was going to court, you see. I sold my house up there, and the people buying it stopped their monthly payments a year before. So after a year of working with two different lawyers to get the house back in my name, and then telling them to leave, I was finally going to court to get them evicted. There were rising worries about the Wuhan Virus back then, but things were still normal in Middle America. I got the eviction order, to be executed on the 20th, and went home. The national emergency was declared 3 days later. “14 Days to Flatten the Curve” began, and all eviction orders were suspended in Minnesota. No one could be evicted during a stay at home order, after all. It wasn’t until August that existing evictions were allowed to be processed again, at which time I finally got the squatters removed. After they built up several more thousand dollars in utility bills that go against the property. And me. I paid to have their garbage removed. I paid to fix the worst of the visible damage they caused to the property. I finally have a buyer lined up, with an agreed upon price that doesn’t lose me my shirt, and a plan to sign the papers within the month. One year later, I need to get my hair cut again, and I’m getting ready to travel up north once more.

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Five Years Later

by on March 9, 2021 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Five years ago, Philando Castile was shot five times in Falcon Heights, near Minneapolis, after following standard policy and informing an officer that he had a firearm. He died. Four years ago, the officer who shot him was acquitted on all charges. A month later, Justine Damond was shot dead by a Minneapolis officer after she called 911. His body camera was not turned on. Two years ago, he was convicted on some charges and sent to jail for over twelve years. One year ago, George Floyd died while a Minneapolis officer held a knee to his neck for nine minutes. That set off a year of protests, riots, lootings, and the general burning of entire neighborhoods in Minneapolis. The court case charging the officer with murder and manslaughter has now started, and the city is braced for more violence. Five years later, I’m still glad I don’t live in the Twin Cities.

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One Year Later

by on March 8, 2021 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

One year ago, Saturday, I remember going to eat at a Pizza Ranch. Rumors had been percolating for a while about the virus ripping through the Wuhan Province of China. Hence the term China or Wuhan Virus that it was being called at the time. Also Wuhan Flu, even though we knew it wasn’t a typical flu. Trump had banned travel from China and it appeared to be holding or slowing the flow of the virus from there, but I remember wondering if that was the last time I would go to a buffet. One year later, I have not been to a buffet.

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The Confederation of Dixie

by on March 7, 2021 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

When the Federal government began arresting those related to the previous Presidential administration and charging them with a multitude of crimes, Virginia’s central law enforcement agencies cooperated in every way they could. The mountainous counties of western Virginia were not so amenable to what they called a federal witch-hunt, and obstructed where they could. They declared themselves sanctuary counties and refused to share information with the Feds. They hid politicians or smuggled them out to safer States that did not cooperate with the Feds. The Feds responded by arresting those county Sheriffs and administrators who stood against them in public. That sent resistance against their arrests into less public methods. “Sic semper tyrannis” became the most common tag on the streets. It was the Virginia motto that meant, “Thus always to Tyrants.”

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The Confederation of Dixie

by on March 6, 2021 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Federal government quickly secured a confession from Vice-President Freemon on charges of promoting an armed insurrection against the government. The confession specified that his family, who had also been arrested, were not aware of his treason, and had no part in it. He named other co-conspirators though, and federal arrest warrants quickly rounded up many more politicians throughout Virginia. Some managed to cross State lines to request asylum from political persecution, where they questioned the very nature of the confessions. They denied the charges and claimed that the Feds had threatened to hurt Freemon’s family if he didn’t confess and name co-conspirators. The Feds dismissed the charges as obvious conspiracy theories and continued to hunt for and arrest political enemies linked to the previous administration throughout Virginia and beyond.

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