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Serial Saturday #2.20: Return to New Toliara

The Enugu was quiet. Perched in a particularly thick cloud, just outside the scanning range of New Toliara, they were rigged for silent running and everyone was speaking in hushed tones. “So, there’s been nothing?” Harcourt looked unhappy. “No,” Kamara replied. “The city itself is there. There’s just… no communication. No nothing. Not even local channels or frequencies appear to be operating.” “Has their dome been compromised?” Sarah asked. “If everyone was forced into shelters and they’re running on emergency power that could-” but Kamara was already shaking his head. “The Dome is still up over the city.” “I don’t like this,” Ema frowned. “It feels-” “Like a trap,” Harcourt finished. Ema nodded in agreement. “I still say we should just do a frontal approach. Make like we’re docking,” Mendrika put in. “And if the city is controlled by the enemy?” Ema asked. “What then? We’d be sitting ducks, especially with the way the docks are laid out here.” She leaned forward and poked Harcourt on
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The Politics Round-Up

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1. Look At This Pretty Map : Iowa Redistricting Begins So, the non-partisan agency tasked with making the maps dropped their first proposal last night and the loose consensus seems to be that this map probably won't be the map. Maps are also included for State House and Senate districts, but I haven't done a deep dive on those yet, and honestly, if this plan gets shot down, it may be less about the Congressional lines and more about the State House and Senate Lines-- but I gotta say, if I was just going purely on congressional districts, there's a lot to like about this map.  (Coverage this morning seems to cast doubt on this map because it puts "rising GOP Star Ashley Hinson" at risk. God. Gag me with a spoon if that description is actually true-- what it does put at risk though is the Battle of the Former KCRG TV-9 Anchors, which I was looking forward to as Christina Bohannon has thrown in for the current 2nd District primary, but would get bumped over to the 1s
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Serial Saturday #2.19: One of These Things Is Not Like The Other

There was a moment of tense silence in the med bay, as Mendrika stared at the image, expressionless before finally, he sighed. “I had hoped you would never find out about this, Sarah.” “You knew ?” “I did,” Mendrika held up his hand. “But it’s not him. It’s some Armscor trick, some Consolidation nonsense.” “How long?” Sarah snapped. “How long have you known?” “Does it matter?”  “It does matter!” Sarah shouted, startling everyone. “A man is running around out there in the Universe with my dead father’s face and you don’t think it matters ? You don’t think I should have been told ?” “I-” The words caught in Mendrika’s throat.  Sarah kept going, the pent-up rage inside her finally bursting free.. “I’m an unwitting pawn in some kind of corporate espionage and they want me to control my city and put neural mind control in my head so I’m their damn puppet and then you show up like a damn ghost and the next thing I know I’m running all over Venus and you just failed to drop into the con
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40 Before 40: Year 8

38 trips around the sun. I'm currently fighting the remnants of whatever delightful school plague the kids brought home to us almost immediately after going back to school. As soon as I lay down at night, my throat dries up, becomes itchy and I start coughing, which in turn, wakes the baby. My body makes audible popping noises when I moved sometimes. But it's been 38 trips around the sun. I cannot complain too much. I am beyond fortunate and incredibly blessed.  So, here's the list: 1. Publish my novel. 2. Get another tattoo 3. Finish all 4,532 pages and 12 volumes of Winston Churchill's 'The Second World War.' 4. Run a 5k 5. Visit Every State in The Lower 48 (Slightly more achievable before I turn 40 then all 50, but I still want to get to all 50.) 6. Lose 50 lbs and keep the weight off.  7. Pay off every single dime of my student loans. 8. Publish two more novels 9. Get the front deck replaced/ get the patio area in the back done the way we want it. 10. Go on
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Netflix & Chill #98-99: The Suicide Squad(s)

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Well, first I wanted to watch The Suicide Squad . We've got HBO Max for a reason after all and goodness knows that James Gunn had done a fantastic job with Guardians of the Galaxy , taking a group of rogues and making them have a shit ton of fun, so I was interested to see what he would do with The Suicide Squad . But then, having watched that, I thought it'd be interesting to backtrack and watch David Ayer's Suicide Squad and see what I thought of that one as well.  Here's the thing: they're both actually pretty good movies. The Suicide Squad opens with Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) assembling two Task Force X teams to infiltrate the South American nation of Corto Maltese, whose government has been overthrown by an anti-American regime. Waller sends two teams- one that gets exterminated on the beach by the Corto Maltese army- which allows the other team, the "real" team to get in undetected. Their mission is to destroy a Nazi-era lab Jotunheim and its hi
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