Jack of Harts

The South American Union arose out of the fires of the violence accompanying the Second Great Depression to become a major world power. They may not have been one of the Big Three, but they had no wish to survive under the benign, at best, neglect of anyone else. They move into space on their own, built their own orbital elevator, and planted their own colonies on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. They even went to the stars on their own terms and colonized worlds and systems as they could. Though they did cooperate with the Western Alliance when it came to colonizing some of the open worlds like Pacifica, Paradisia, and Serenity. They had no reason to antagonize the Alliance after all. Playing nice rarely hurt anyone.

Tiktok is a platform run by the Chinese Communist Party via golden shares that give them control over it. I absolutely support methods of either banning the app or divesting it from the CCP. But I do not like the current law that suddenly went through the House like a wildfire. For one, I am always suspicious when both sides of the Uniparty in Washington suddenly go all gungho for any bill. For two, I remember when we passed the Patriot Act, and we now live in a world where it is aimed at parents who disagree with school boards over pornography in school libraries. For three, does anybody remember when the Democrats and their tame news media claimed anybody who disagreed with them was controlled by Russia? I do. So I wonder who this bill will be aimed at next.

My Mom was alive four years ago. She was retired from work, living at home, and happy. I was out of debt, working, and living in the house I bought next door so I could shovel snow, mow grass, and do all the other stuff it takes to keep houses running. We were back from our trip north where we joined people in restaurants and met family just like life was normal and happy. Because it was. Of course, there was that odd bug coming out of China that the news was talking about. And people with weakened respiratory systems seemed to be the primary target, which was us. But we were listening to the doctors, and they had some good ideas on what treatments or supplements we should take to improve our body’s ability to fight it. We were going to be okay.