Ten
Three weeks later, Tarbos, a maintenance warehouse, 2AM local time
Tarbos nights were uniformly dark, since the planet’s one tiny moon reflected almost no light. This made clandestine meetings all the easier.
“You brought the progress report?”
“Yes. The delegates are forming a Constitution. It looks like it will be based on the principles of at least three Earth nations.”
“Never mind that. What about military forces?”
“There is a provision for a Navy. They’ve shown a design for an armed ship, a frigate. Larger ships are being designed.”
“That’s not going to go over well with my superiors.”
“I didn’t think it would. I’m just telling you what happened – do you want the truth, or do you want a bunch of song and dance?”
“You’ve done well.” A package was passed over. “One week from tonight, same time, same place. Mind your security.”
“I always do.”
Tarbos, the Main Conference Hall, the next morning
King Harold I of Corinthia leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling as Stefan Ebensburg of Caliban read off a listing of proposed amendments to the Confederate Constitution. Several attendants sat around him, their expressions alternating Deep Thought, Rapt Attention and Barely Conscious. In front of the King, Russia’s Vice President Vladimir Tarakanov was paying close attention, jotting down notes in a flawless Cyrillic script. The UK’s Prince Harry sat next to the Russian, turning now and then to exchange a whispered comment with his cousin, King Harold.
Mike Junior was finding them all pretty amusing. His father was doggedly trying to pay attention to the droning Ebensburg reading what was to become the Confederate Bill of Basic Rights.
Freedom of Religious Practice. The Right to Privacy. The Right to Bear Arms. The Right to Free Speech. The Right to a Trial by Jury. All the rights enumerated in the American Bill of Rights, but put in a bit more modern language; where America’s Second Amendment read “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed,” the Confederate Third Basic Right was drafted as “The right of no free citizen to bear arms in defense of home, community, or planet shall be called into question.”
Mike liked what he’d heard so far. A very libertarian interstellar government seemed to be in the works.
A janitorial closet, nearby
“Will this work?”
“Yes. Turn that dial – there – to thirty minutes. Push the big button.”
A thunderous roar split the quiet of the morning.
The Main Conference Room
The blast hurled Mike from his chair, slamming him against the floor with rib-cracking force. A choking blast of dust and grit washed over him, and the shock wave of the explosion rippled sickeningly through his body. The roar of explosives seemed to come almost as an afterthought, passing as quickly as it came, leaving only the tinkling of broken ceramics, glass and the crackling of flames somewhere. Mike looked up, eyes stinging, to a room filled with smoke and dust.
“Junior?” he called out.
“Dad?” Mike coughed instead of sighing in relief at the sound of the familiar voice. “Are you alright, Dad?”
“I’m fine. Look for the Vice President, Junior.”
“He’s over here, Dad. He’s bleeding, but I think he’ll be alright.”
“Good.” Mike stood up, stretching his arms and legs experimentally. “The blast came from the back, over there.”
A pair of broad-shouldered OWME Security troops was already running in that direction. Another tall figure in the uniform of an OWME Security Lieutenant appeared in the dust and haze. “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get you all out of here. Quickly, people! Let’s all get to a safe location!”
“And where might that be?” Mike wondered quietly. All but two of the delegates stood slowly, many wincing with the pain of injuries. Two at the back of the room did not stand; Mike shook off the arm of the Lieutenant to go over to the two prone figures. He shouted for medical help as he went, but it was to be of little use.
New Albion’s Angus MacPherson and Forrest Cox of Zed lay dead in the dust and rubble and with them, all hopes of a quick conclusion to the Convention.
The Lieutenant crossed to Mike’s side, shaking his head at the sight of the two bodies. “Sir,” he repeated, softly, “we really need to get you to a place of safety. There may be more explosives. We need to sweep the building.”
“All right,” Mike agreed. “Who would do something like this?”
“If we can figure that out, sir, I hope they give me five minutes alone with him,” the Security Officer replied. He’d served four years as a U.K. Royal Marine on Earth, and the warrior mentality was ingrained in him. “I’d know just how to handle him.”
“I hope you get your chance.”
Fifteen minutes later, Mike found himself in a skimmer with his son and the Gutierrez family, racing south along the coastline. An OWME shuttle pilot had been impressed to run the skimmer; several other skimmers were accompanying them on the journey, carrying the delegates to safety.
Mike Junior leaned forward, poking his head over the seat into the driver’s compartment. “Where are we going?”
“Twenty klicks south, the Tide Pool resort,” the driver called over his shoulder, raising his voice so the other passengers could hear. “It’s a pretty big place. OWME executives like to hold meetings there, but I don’t reckon it’s big enough for what you all are doing. Still, it’s a hundred-room hotel.”
“I bet they’ll have a ring of security troops all around it, too,” the younger Crider predicted, dropping back into his seat.
“We can’t really continue the Convention, can we?” Mike Senior was watching the rolling surf whip past, fifty yards from the skimmer’s window. “We’ve lost at least two delegates. We need to have someone from each of the settled worlds.”
“We’ll get new delegates, Mike.” Hector Gutierrez was holding a blood-soaked bandage to the side of his head, but the cut was superficial. “This is too important. We’re delayed, but we’re not stopped.”
“Of course,” Mike agreed. “You’re right. This is too important.” He turned back to the window. “I wonder who else thinks stopping it is important – and why?”
To see more of Animal’s writing, visit his page at Crimson Dragon Publishing or Amazon.
ANTIFA?
No self?
Just words. We’ve all seen how well words do at impeding the bureaucracy…
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/JilQmz_DnqI
The lyrics to this entire song should be included in the constitution.
Well, I finally got my explosion…
At least it wasn’t bigger.
I’m just pleased that something blew up before the bureaucrats could get their hooks even further in…
I finally got my explosion
Was it Tarbos shattering? A Tarbos shattering Kaboom, even?
There’s a sucker born every minute, and those two just got born again.
Clearly not the work of The Urkelbomber*
*Copyright Common Tater
That ethanol doesn’t have enough subsidy!
Much of the aid—$11 billion—will be in the form of one-time payments through the Farmer Bridge Assistance program, which helps U.S. crop farmers. The remaining $1 billion will go toward commodities not covered under the bridge assistance program, the officials said. Bloomberg earlier reported the details of the bailout.
Naturally a good chunk of this is tariff driven. So the solution, of course, is more subsidies will fix that!
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-to-unveil-12-billion-bailout-for-farmers-064eb1de?st=sVsAtA&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
First we subsidize farmers to grow more corn, then subsidize the ethanol program to produce a less efficient fuel.
Add tariffs (the Chinese will pay for the tariffs), Chinese switch to Brazil for a better deal.
Farmers backup with unsold food products because no one will buy them at the new price.
Institute a $12 billion bailout for the farmers.
Somehow, that will lower inflation. I’m grateful for these economic advisors (Bessent, Navaro, Lighthizer and many more). I’m glad we have these smart people that are helping us out. We can eliminate income tax ’cause the tariffs will make up the difference.
Why didn’t Friedman, Hayek and von Mises ever think of that? We’re lucky to have the new guys on the playing field.
Don’t forget the Jones act.
I finally got around to watching my copy of Dune 2 over the weekend. It was a better movie than I remember it being from when I saw it in the theater. Zenyatta Mondatta was less annoying than I remembered, and if her Chani hadn’t been written so cunty, might have actually been good.
There were a lot of little tricks I missed when originally watching it, some of which I don’t know that I would have noticed especially in the Gedi Prime scenes, like there being color in “artificial lighting” with the outdoor shots being in IR — the Reverend Mother robes changing from black to “white” was particularly nice.
Also: there was a scene with a teeny little Paul riding on the back of a worm that would have been completely impossible to see in the era of 480p.
It was a really well filmed movie, but her “one face” and how they changed her character completely from the book makes me not sure if I will go see part 3.
Supposedly for continuity purposes Chani falls in love with Paul again.
Admittedly in this version of the story they’re only together for a few weeks or months, unlike in the book where they are together for like two years (and have a kid) before Paul marries Irulan.
In the book, she had to push Paul to marry the princess?
Her being so mad about was retarded in the movie, but Hollywood can’t have a girl not be a girl boss I guess.
Yeah, that was Modern Audience stuff. Like having racially diverse members of an isolated population that engages in orgies.
I had the same feelings about. It’s been decades since I read the book that I don’t remember how different the movie is from the book and don’t really care at this point.
(This version of) the movie really leaned into the Tragedy of Muadib whereas the others have emphasized the badassery of the avenging son/liberator/Kwitzach Haderach.
However, considering Books 2-4, Paul as a failed god who brought misery and suffering without actually saving humanity is a pretty solid justification for this take.
From ded thred: I’m saddened to hear that PS was onlined and killed off. Irregular appearances too but often found something interesting in each issue that we did get. One article had some useful aids and asked the admin sgt about ordering them. Couple weeks later, “hey SPC Lytton, here’s your shit!”. Wow.
Picked up a reprint of the M16 PS for nostalgia reasons
Yeah. I was in 04-10 and may have seen three or four copies in that time.
I saw them more often as a civilian.
Loved the cheekiness and had to guess that it could not exist in the era of EO and PC, which by 04 had been in full swing for well over a decade before I joined.
The old timers would tell me about how tame it was now (then). My time was just before yours.
I was wondering if they’re going to tell if the explosives were of alien make, which of course led me to wonder about chemical detectors which of course made me realize that dogs should be able to track Grugels by scent.
Seemed fairly incompetent explosives. Probably of traitor eartman origin. The Grugel probably outsourced all of it to avoid direct ties.
Eh, the sabotaged detonator could have been outsourced but you’d need to whack the saboteur then. Plus trust that it was properly sabotaged.
That brings up an issue. Nobody is going to do the Grugel’s dirty work again after they blew up the first dudes.
I would hope that the Grugel are savvy enough to set up deniable cut-outs…
That assumes that the Grugel have ever had a need for subterfuge in the past. So far, it appears they do everything by brute force.
They use cloaking for the surprise element in an attack, but they don’t seem to have any history with complex deception.
If they think the humans are tough, turn the dogs loose on them. That’ll teach’m.
one less set of footsteps on your floor . . . .
https://abcnews.go.com/US/alina-habba-resigns-new-jersey-us-attorney-ending/story?id=128216127
Alina Habba resigns as New Jersey U.S. Attorney after appeals court defeat
a panel of federal judges last month appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney Desiree Leigh Grace to the permanent U.S. attorney spot.
This right here is bullshit. If there is a law allowing this, it should facially unconstitutional. If there isn’t, robed idiots aren’t any more above the law.
They are our betters.
Bow to them.
No different than having city managers choose the police chief or Fire Chief. Or an unelected library board choosing the librarian and the tax rate for you.
They have degrees and fancy titles, know your place serf.
Remember: There is no such thing as an unconstitutional law. It does not rise to the level of law. It is specifically forbidden by the supreme law of the land. It is a CRIME committed by the state.
I’d say the reworked 2nd still has a lot of wiggle room. ““The right of no free citizen to bear arms …shall be called into question, except by those who really know what’s up.” <– First Amendment signed to the new Constitution, drafted by those who really know what's up.
A million drunk raccoons with a million typewriters
DOT opens public comment on plan to hike fuel costs during affordability crisis
——-
Since the beginning of this year, the occupants of the White House have been on a mission to raise costs for Americans.
This mission has encompassed many different moves, most notably through unwise tariffs.
But another effort has focused on changing policy in a way that will raise fuel costs for Americans, adding to already-high energy prices.
This specific rollback focuses on a rule passed under President Biden which would save Americans $23 billion in fuel costs by requiring higher fuel economy from auto manufacturers. By making cars use less fuel on average, Americans would not only save money on fuel, but reduce fuel demand which means that prices would go down overall.
Wheeeeee!
*Yes, it’s Electrek.
And yet, everyone and their mother is buying up heavy ass SUVs and pick ups.
When everyone one else is driving a tank, you feel pretty exposed in a subcompact sedan.
I’m a nimble fighter pilot in my GTI.
Once people find the fuel prices they’ll naturally gravitate to and demand more fuel efficient cars. It’s happened before and it’ll happen again, no regs necessary.
Whoops, find the fuel prices prohibitive.
My daily commuter is a 2017 Versa. The 350z is pretty much put away until the snow melts off next spring.
… the occupants of the White House have been on a mission to raise costs for Americans.
And I’m out. You can say their actions have raised costs but stating that is their goal is just utter bullshit.
Specifically, the announcement changes the planned 2031 50.5 mpg target to 34.5 mpg, cutting vehicle efficiency by nearly a third, which will lead to a commensurate increase in your fuel costs (note: CAFE numbers are calculated differently, and tend to look higher than actual mpg numbers).
They say that like there is anything out there actually hitting the numbers. It’s so precious.
“From the very first day of driving, it will cost consumers more to operate their less-efficient cars: more for gas, more for repairs, more time wasted pumping gas,” he said.
Said with no evidence. Also no explicit description of the assumptions for miles driven versus increased fuel economy versus lower purchase cost. It’s the perfect Reuters’ article. Opinion presented as news.
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/trump-fuel-economy-rollback-may-make-cars-cheaper-higher-gas-bills-will-absorb-2025-12-08/
Just go buy your 1L three cylinder with a turbocharger car that’ll blow a headgasket at 80K miles and shut up.
Gets great mileage if you treat it like there’s a Faberge egg under the gas pedal.
Before the billions of mandates, cars got about 30 MPG with far less complexity and weight. With everything we have learned in the past 30 years we could make stunning high-mileage cars and trucks that don’t weigh 3 tons.