David Dvorkin @DavidDvorkin@qoto.org

#introduction
Before retiring, I was an aerospace engineer (Apollo, Viking Mars lander), software developer, and tech writer. But that was to pay the bills. I think of myself as a writer -- mostly sf, some horror, some mystery, some (yet unpublished) fantasy. Lots of details at www.dvorkin.com

My wife and I also help writers self-publish. You can find out more at www.dldbooks.com

In theory, I should be writing much more now that I'm retired. In practice, that's not happening. I blame the Internet.

I'm sure that Vance already has a carefully balanced speech prepared for the instant Trump descends to his eternal reward -- a speech that tries to fool the country into believing that under his presidency, things will improve somewhat while not saying anything that will anger the MAGAts.

Trump is too stupid and ignorant to know he's stupid and ignorant, too weak and ineffectual to know he's weak and ineffectual, too laughable and embarrassing to know he's laughable and embarrassing, and on and on. I guess that's why the MAGAts adore him: when the look at him, it's like looking in a mirror.

Maybe someone actually did attack Putin's residence, and maybe it wasn't Ukrainians but Russians. That's a pleasing thought.

Now go down to the beach and stop the tide, Ron.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/27/we-have-to-reject-that-with-every-fiber-of-our-being-desantis-emerges-as-a-chief-ai-skeptic-00704333

It's odd that we call it cutlery. In actually, only the knives are cutlery. Forks are impalery. Spoons are scooplery. We should call it cutimpscooplery, but I suppose that would be too cumbersome.

Trump is the lump of coal in America's Christmas stocking. Were we really that bad?

If I were not an atheist, I'd be thanking God right now for the existence of streaming classical radio stations that aren't playing Christmas crap.

Trump and the gang that surrounds him are collectively the turd in the punchbowl, but it's important to remember that the turd doesn't just ruin the punch: it also pollutes the bowl. If the bowl can't be replaced, then you'll want to clean it very, very well before putting more punch in it.

MAGAts fall into three groups: idiots, the largest group; intelligent(ish) but willfully blind, a small group; and a tiny group who profit from the actions of the orange shitball in the White House and are so selfish that they don't care about the destruction of our democracy.

That's right, Elon. It's a really nice rocket. There, there. Don't cry.

https://futurism.com/future-society/elon-starship-most-important

I wonder if the hard core of MAGAts will ever admit to themselves that their orange god-king is a demented, narcissistic, greedy, babbling buffoon who doesn't give a damn about any of them and never has.

Spare me your secular solstice celebration.

https://eyeblister.blogspot.com/2025/12/spare-me-your-secular-solstice.html

Dementident Dump will address the nation tonight. He will state plainly that the nation's troubles are his fault, not Biden's, and he will humbly apologize for his stupidity, incompetence, and general nastiness, and he will promise to do bett-- Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Assuming Trump is still alive and babbling during the 2028 presidential campaign, it will be amusing to see the GOP presidential nominee desperately trying to avoid Trump's endorsement.

We have a demented president who spews drek from his oral sphincter, which his acolytes lap up eagerly while normal Americans and the rest of the world look on in horror and wonder when Mother Nature will do her damn job.

Whatever you think of the Democrats, you should vote for them instead of that shithole party.

Good news, if this study is accurate.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251205054736.htm

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial institution in Jerusalem has a searchable database of Holocaust victims. They just passed 5,000,000 names and have some hope of being able to recover 250,000 of the remaining one million. I searched the database and found the names of my mother's mother and teenage sister:
https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/names/9151952
https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/names/9151953

During the Dubya administration, I published a darkly comic novel titled Business Secrets from the Stars which involved a near-future right-wing-religious takeover of the US. I thought it was probably far-fetched. It wasn't, although the reality isn't comic, but it is dark.

Did the MAGAts finally give up trying to pretend that Charlie Kirk's assassin was not one of their own? I haven't seen that for a while.