Eight
Tarbos, the Main Conference Hall
Mike sat in the audience, watching the President of the Republic of China drone on about China’s role in Earth history. He glanced down at his sparse notes; he was next up to speak, preceding Harvey’s Assistant Project Director, Nancy Kawasaki.
Boy, am I out of my league here.
In the seat next to him, Mike Junior was fighting to keep his eyes open as Kee Chow An went on about the rise and fall of Communism in China, and how an ancestor of his fought in the Rebellion against the Communist People’s Liberation Army to liberate China from Communist rule.
I wonder what’s for lunch. Tarbos is supposed to have some sort of local delicacy, some kind of big hairy turtle-thing.
Seated on the other side of Mike from his son was some sort of aide to the King of Corinthia; the man reeked of perfume and was dressed like a peacock. Mike glanced down at his trademark blue cotton shirt; he’d put on black pants, a new pair of tooled boots, a light gray suit jacket and an old-fashioned string tie as a concession to the formality of the occasion. His gray Stetson hat lay in his lap.
Oh, boy. Sounds like the old boy’s winding down. Get your shit together, Mike old boy.
Next to him, Mike Junior started up suddenly out of a doze. He rubbed his eyes and looked around the room for the hundredth time, his gaze finally settling on Maria Gutierrez, seated with her family a few meters away. Maria looked back over her shoulder at Mike Junior; she winked once and smiled.
This is going to be serious, Mike reminded himself; he knew all the signs of young love, having been through it once himself. Hell, Jenny still looks at me that way. I probably look at her just like Junior looks at Maria Gutierrez. Oh, boy.
And then it was his turn. Kee Chow An stepped off the stage, and Bob Pritchard was introducing ‘The Hero of Forest, Michael Crider.’ Mike got up, seated his hat on his head, and made his way to the podium like a man on the way to a hanging.
“Good morning.” He shuffled his notepaper, squinting at his own scratchy handwriting. “Excuse me,” he apologized, reaching in his jacket to extract the reading glasses he’d begun to need a few years earlier. A smattering of friendly laughter flickered through the room as Mike gave the glasses a quick polish with his jacket sleeve before threading the earpieces behind his ears. “That’s better,” he said with a note of satisfaction.
“I’ve spent the last few days wondering why, exactly, I’m here. I’m not like the rest of you. I’m not a political or a business leader. I’m just a hunter and pioneer. The rest of you are used to managing the affairs of nations and planets. Me, I’m just used to hunting the occasional boser or roc to send down to the colony for meat; that’s how I earn my humble living. And it’s a pretty darn humble living, too.” Mike paused, smiling at the laughter his dry wit engendered.
“You all know the reason I’m here. I’m the only one here who has faced the Grugell firsthand. I fought the Grugell Occupation on Forest, my wife fought in the Battle of Settlement, and I led a party of scouts to destroy the broadcast power station in the very meadow I still live in today. You’ve all read the accounts of those battles, and so it’s obvious – at least to me – that any of my fellow scouts would be as well suited to this as I. Maybe more so – Nathaniel Tzukuli was one of those scouts, and Doctor Tzukuli is probably one of the smartest men in the Galaxy.
“But they’re not here. I am. So, I suppose I should tell you what I’d like to see in this Galactic government we’re here to form.
“Vice President Gutierrez spoke about freedom. That’s the first thing I’d like to see. The freedom to earn my own living as I please. The freedom to be left alone to live my life as I please. The freedom to raise and protect my own family.
“The Vice President also spoke about the dangers of dictatorships. That’s the second thing I’d like to see. I’d like to see a provision for a military force, one strong enough to ensure that the Battle of Settlement won’t be repeated. On Forest, we beat the Grugell because they didn’t understand us; they didn’t understand the power of an armed citizenry, the power of free people fighting to protect their freedom. They know better now, and if they try to strike at one of our planets again, they’ll come in force, and we’ll need more than farmers and pioneers with hunting rifles to stop them.
“Finally, the Vice President spoke about history. That’s what we’re here to do; we’re going to make history. Well, I was born and raised an American, and there’s one thing America had right from the start, and that was ensuring the rights of its citizens. That’s the third thing I’d like to see. A Bill of Rights, to grant those rights – no, that’s not right. I don’t believe a government can grant rights. We, as human beings, have certain rights that are inherent in being human. Natural rights. We must have a Bill of Rights to guarantee the natural rights that every person is born with, by virtue of their humanity.
“Like I said, I’m a simple man. Just a hunter and a pioneer. But there are billions like me on Earth, and in the colonies. We’re the people, the ordinary people, who are going to live under this Confederation. And just like America was the beacon of freedom that finally removed the scourge of dictatorship from Earth, so should this Confederation be the beacon of freedom for the Galaxy.”
Mike paused, tipping back his hat. The delegates were dead silent; Mike lacked the experience to gauge their reaction.
“I find it interesting that America was founded with thirteen colonies. We have representatives from thirteen planets here today. Let’s take that as an omen. Let’s proceed with the same commitment to liberty and freedom that those Founders did back then.
“That’s all I have to say.” He folded his notes and placed them in his jacket pocket, removed his glasses and tucked them away as well. The room was still silent. And then Vice President Hector Gutierrez stood up, clapping. His family followed suit, followed by Bob Pritchard, by the Russian Vice President whose name Mike had forgotten, and then by the room en masse. The applause washed over Mike like a wave, leaving him a trifle bewildered. As video and still cameras recorded the scene for history, capturing a pose that would be immortalized in textbooks for a millennium, Mike Crider smiled slightly, touched one finger to his gray Stetson in a half-salute, and left the stage.
To see more of Animal’s writing, visit his page at Crimson Dragon Publishing or Amazon.
Quite Coolidge-esque.
I loved the story Animal, I prefer the book format.
Thanks for the story Animal.
Nothing blew up.
🙁
…yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pzKg7IxhNA
I need to watch B5 in its totality.
I need to make more money.
Need’s got nothing to do with it.
It’s a MAGA thing
The issue of inauthentic or “bot” accounts has plagued the platform, formerly Twitter, and other social media sites for over a decade. Perhaps most notably, inauthentic accounts on Twitter and other social media platforms were allegedly used by a Russian government operation in the run-up to the 2016 election in an attempt to influence the outcome. The incident set off a wave of concern online about the persistent presence of inauthentic accounts, but detection methods to sniff out such accounts remained unreliable for years.
All those “Trump is a NAZI” accounts are strictly on the up and up. True blue American patriots.
Hilarious. Just ignore the other side of that coin which is overwhelming.
Those aren’t bots. They’re just accounts borrowing other people’s identities….
I did not mention bots.
Does anyone take those blatantly cheesy accounts seriously? Maybe they do, but to me it seems on par with the “Hillary is a Satan” Facebook posts that allegedly stole the election from her.
*Batman cut scene
MEANWHILE, OVER THE PLANET…
Again?
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1993016000477118859?t=Z6RkrWpGA2qp8IiJCtZoyw&s=19
This page does not exist….
Maybe Libs of TikTok was a foreign psy-op too.
It worked for me
Now the Twitter is not letting me look without an account.
How to gauge a reaction:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDrmIEXFHgc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_S._Sweat#The_%22whiskey_speech%22
I’m sure you guys have heard of this guy, but I’ve been thinking of ways to improve on the guy’s design, mostly ergonomics.
(Luty, not Dankula)
I’ve always seen those kind of home-shop-expedient weapons as a stepping stone to get a real gun (ideally, off the body of some authoritarian jackboot.) As such, I would view ergonomics as important only to the extent that it doesn’t interfere with simplicity, reliability, and ease of manufacture.
My brain will look at a design and go “can I improve on that?”
Ultimately, I get that it is a “Liberator” category of weapon as you describe.
But my brain’s gonna go look for improvements.
Sure, there’s nothing wrong with that. Just so long as the improvements don’t interfere with ease of manufacture.
There’s also the category of “I want one for the sake of owning one” – like the Hi-Point 10mm.
ES
10-22 gets you an M4
Couple M4s get you a Humvee with an M2
The Whiskey Speech is really a beautiful example of rhetoric.
Calling it an example of the equivocation fallacy, reveals a sad inability to think in abstract terms.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-comey-case-dismissed-judge-lindsey-halligan/
Judge dismisses James Comey and Letitia James cases, finding prosecutor’s appointment invalid
A federal judge on Monday ordered the criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James to be dismissed on the grounds that Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney who secured their indictments, was unlawfully appointed to the role.
The rulings from U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie are a significant victory for Comey and James, who both argued their prosecutions are retaliatory and motivated by President Trump’s efforts to punish his political foes. The Justice Department is likely to appeal the decisions and ask for them to be halted.
“I conclude that all actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment, including securing and signing Mr. Comey’s indictment, constitute unlawful exercises of executive power and must be set aside,” Currie wrote in her opinion in the Comey case, a line that she repeated in her ruling in the James case.
So Trump appoints a new prosecutor who refiles the same charges, right?
How is the same judge on both cases? If the judge isn’t the one hearing the cases, on what grounds does the judge claim authority to issue the order on someone else’s case?
I would love to hear how Halligan’s appointment to the US Attorney position was ‘unlawful,’ other than that she was appointed by the Trump administration.
I would like to think that there is a way to remove a judge from the bench in such cases of legal malfeasance, but I’m probably kidding myself…
Definitely kidding yourself.
Wiki says:
In September 2025, Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, resigned after refusing to bring criminal cases against either Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, or James Comey, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After Siebert’s dismissal, Boris Epshteyn, a Trump aide, approached Halligan about taking the position. On September 20, Trump announced that he would nominate Halligan—who has no prosecutorial experience—to succeed Siebert. According to The New York Times, attorney general Pam Bondi and deputy attorney general Todd Blanche questioned her viability for the role given her lack of experience. Two days later, Halligan was sworn in as the interim U.S. attorney,[21] after which she resigned as staff secretary.
On October 20, Comey’s attorneys filed a motion for dismissal, alleging that Halligan’s interim appointment was carried out in violation of federal law. The New York Times noted that “A ruling finding that Ms. Halligan was put into her post improperly could cause [prosecutorial] problems in Ms. James’s case as well.”
It’s illegal because it gives the judge an excuse. No actual explanation of what fed law was violated.
First, we need a functional legislature…
CNBC
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/24/trump-comey-james-indictments-halligan.html
The law, which gives the attorney general 120 days to make interim appointments, had been triggered by the appointment of Siebert on Jan. 21, the judge wrote.
When that clock ran out on May 21, “so too did the Attorney General’s appointment authority,” Currie ruled.
Halligan has therefore “been unlawfully serving in that role” since her appointment on Sept. 22, Currie wrote.
The judge noted that in both cases, Halligan was the only prosecutor who presented information to the grand juries that ultimately returned the indictments.
So, it look like Siebert was appointed as interim prosecutor Jan 21 and apparently never approved as a permanent prosecutor.
Then Sibert resigns, but this resignation does not restart the clock. Implying that Trump cannot fill the role by a second interim appointment.
Sounds like another job for SCOTUS.
First, you handle this by calling every verdict and opinion offered by this judge invalid, siting his appointment was unlawful.
Second, you stop paying him, as his appointment was unlawful.
Dismissed without prejudice so they can refile when they get their shit together. Also, Bondi’s a goddamned incompetent idiot so it wouldn’t surprise me if she screwed the pooch on this.
True. Although it’s not like we haven’t had incompetent idiot AGs in the past…
I thought incompetence was a requirement for the job?
Later in the CBS story:
In evaluating the text of Section 546, Currie found that the power to name an interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia for 120 days to fill the current vacancy rested not with the attorney general, but with district court for the region. She wrote that if the government’s interpretation of the law were correct, then the president could evade the Senate confirmation process “indefinitely” by “stacking” consecutive 120-day appointments.
“In sum, the text, structure, and history of section 546 point to one conclusion: the Attorney General’s authority to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney lasts for a total of 120 days from the date she first invokes section 546 after the departure of a Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney,” Currie wrote. “If the position remains vacant at the end of the 120-day period, the exclusive authority to make further interim appointments under the statute shifts to the district court, where it remains until the President’s nominee is confirmed by the Senate. Ms. Halligan was not appointed in a manner consistent with this framework.”
Currie ordered the indictments to be dismissed without prejudice, which would allow prosecutors to seek charges again. She suggested that prosecutors could not seek a new indictment in Comey’s case since the statute of limitations for the offenses expired at the end of September.
🙄
OFFS.
I’m pretty sure that the initial filing, even if disputable, pauses the timer.
Oopsie doopsie: looks like Comey’ll be as guilty as sin but free as a bird due to a mistake so stupid you’d almost have to make it on purpose.
UCS: “No, if a case is dismissed and the statute of limitations has expired, the claim is time-barred, meaning it cannot be refiled. A dismissal does not extend the time allowed under the statute of limitations.”
According to AI so who knows if true?
If this was a Law and Order episode someone would come to an timely end outside of the court room.
https://youtu.be/XfWnITmT1Ws
The flaw here (IANAL) seems to be that Halligan’s PRIOR appointment was for a different district – so she has essentially served two distinct interim appointments. Very good of Comey’s attorney to write this ruling for the Judge…
“…who both argued their prosecutions are retaliatory and motivated by President Trump’s efforts to punish his political foes.”
Unprecedented.
Doesn’t change the fact that both of them broke the law as written (no need to convert a pile of state charges past the statute of limitations into federal charges via a novel theory).
Yeah, this is becoming one of the most irritating things out there.
I guess the strategy now is to prosecute anyone you think might be a political enemy BEFORE they prosecute you.
@ Pope Jimbo from the dead threads re: cops asking for license and registration. This recently happened to me in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the first time ever. I told him Texas doesn’t do that except for commercial vehicles. I got a written warning for that and speeding, so some states do it, but yeah, never happened in MN when I lived there (or IA, CA, OK when stopped passing through) and I had a LOT of experience with getting pulled over in my youth.
In my state it has been license, registration, and proof of insurance since I was a lad. In TX I just had a local yokle turn on his gumball machine behind me, wait for me to pull over, then put his cruiser across the road in front of me with his side arm drawn. There was no proof of anything demanded except for “respect my authority”. He was mad because I only pulled over to the side of the road where it was safe, instead of immediately? It was 0.5 of a mile at the most on a back assed road in east TX. That is where I learned all locals were able to use radar in TX. I bought a top of the line Passport the next day.
In my state it has been license, registration, and proof of insurance since I was a lad.
I remember when PA didn’t have mandatory insurance, but I wasn’t driving then.
It’s been license, registration, proof of insurance since I started driving.
NH and MA are license and registration.
Err… It’s been license, registration, proof of insurance in PA since I started driving.
No idea when the insurance requirement was added. It’s been present during all of my driving life. I do “respect” that the PA State Police are very matter of fact about the pull over, there is none of the “do you know how fast you were going”. If they have the radar evidence, then you will be getting a ticket. There is a well rehearsed speech: “License, registration, and proof of insurance. I clocked you going 78 in a 65 you will be getting a citation for 13mph over the posted limit, you have the right to plead guilty or not-guilty, if not guilty can appear at district court XXX and plead your case, however you plead I require your signature that you understand the previous statement.”
This allows the State’s men to get back out there and earn as fast as possible.
I have only once had a PSP pull me over and try to get me to incriminate my self, because he could tell I was speeding, but didn’t clock me (see the radar detector comment above).
No idea when the insurance requirement was added.
80s.
I remember most of my older relatives bitching about it. “It’ll only help insurance companies!”
The rest praised it. “At least I know they’ll have insurance.”
I have only once had a PSP pull me over and try to get me to incriminate my self, because he could tell I was speeding, but didn’t clock me (see the radar detector comment above).
I had one tailgate me for a bit while I was in the left lane passing people. Instead of being smart and moving into a gap in the right lane, I floored the gas. He stopped me. His questions were fishing questions until I said, “Well, there was this guy tailgating me.” He stammered a bit and said, “I have a call to go to so I’m not going to write you a ticket. I’ll just give you a warning.” He let me go.
Huh.
I’m poking around the Intertubes. I found some references to PA mandating insurance on cars back to the 60s, but I remember my relatives bitching about becoming mandatory in the 80s.
I had a cop do just about that in Oregon on 97. “I followed you for a mile and a half, why didn’t you pull over?!”
It wasent safe to pull over.
“I determine what is safe”
I should have stopped on the highway with no shoulders and let him get hit.
It’s license and proof of insurance in Texas. Nobody asks for vehicle registration, we all have a sticker on the windshield that indicates the status of that.
I had my window sticker in the glove box for 3 years in TX and never put it on the windshield. Stupid northerner only found it when I got back to the North East.
Yes. I was always told the cops were “looking for those sticker violations.” No they aren’t.
Yup. OK too.
NY is license and registration, even though there is a window sticker! They want you to hold onto the coupon that comes with the sticker. Guess who found that out the hard way?
We have stickers that go on the rear plate. But we are also required to keep the registration receipt in the vehicle.
License, registration, and proof of insurance please . . . . .
In Idaho they ask you but run your plate.
Which also pulls up your drives lisence.
Last time I got stilled at a scale I offered my lisence but the guy in the chicken coop said he already had it. That was outside of Boise on 84.
Commercial is even dumber.
Regristration
Insurance
IFTA sticker
IFTA paperwork
MC150 paperwork (dumbest thing ever)
UCR paperwork (second dumbest thing ever)
DOT # that now has to have the letters US in front of it, some states require the state acronym behind it
Your phone number in the truck somewhere.
Your business name on the truck
Your safety inspection sticker
Your safety inspection paperwork, the vehicle copy as there are three copies
Idaho dosent give you a lisence plate sticker so I also pack the letter from the Idaho dot saying they don’t give out tag stickers anymore.
And my Oregon DOT extra registration.
Dear TPTB: I did a quick Thanksgiving movie episode, even stuck the permazoom link on there.
“Neither rain, nor sleet, nor holidays shall prevent the post….”
By the way Animal, thanks for continuing to provide me with Storytime after lunch.
Here is a great track from an artist I’ve been listening to since the late 80’s. First album in 16 years, I’m digging it.
https://youtu.be/ecslvsERpcA
Sounds legit.
New in the box right?
Right?
No tax stamp right?