September 2026 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 The Spider Series Commercial
“I’ve finished my 3 book Spider Series. If you’re into hot sex and heart pounding adventure please check it out. Available on Amazon. Thank you for your interest and support. D. S. Mitchell aka “Calamity” at Calamity News and Politics.

“There is nothing more inspiring than taking action against injustice.” D.S. Mitchell 2025

“If stupidity got us into this mess, why can’t it get us out of it.” Will Rogers

“If you can’t be a poet, be a poem.” David Carradine

“No god would want a child killed in his name.” D.S. Mitchell 2023

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” Friedrich Nietzsche

“Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.” ― George Burns

“A politician thinks of the next election – a statesman of the next generation.” – James Freeman Clarke

“I want to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.” Arthur Ashe

“Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it’s beauty.” ― Albert Einstein

“So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.” ― Kurt Vonnegut

“Let’s just remember that social security is not the government’s money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of the checks involuntarily their entire working lives.” Mike Huckabee

“I have insecurities of course, but I don’t hang out with anyone who points them out to me.” ADELE

“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” Christian Grey

“My favorite old car had no reverse gear. It taught me I could only go forward.” Flavia

“Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela

“Those who think they can control the mob are fools and are often the victims of their own incitement.” D.S. Mitchell 2021

“A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

“If now isn’t a good time for the truth I don’t see when we’ll get to it.” Nikki Giovanni

“Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is that you are stupid and make bad decisions.” Your mother

“Studying American politics has taught me several disgusting lessons, the first being, money buys friends in Congress. That alone should terrify the American public.” D. S. Mitchell 2021

“My art is my heart.” D. S. Mitchell 2015

“Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.” Arthur Rubenstein

“Every lie is like stepping in a quicksand pit. Every lie as dangerous, as telling the truth.” D. S. Mitchell 2020

“Sometimes when challenged we find out we are capable of the unthinkable.” D. S. Mitchell 2022

“Surround yourself with those on the same mission as you.” Anonymous

“Dimming the lights will not hide the social injustice in America.” D. S. Mitchell 2017

“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. So I elect for neither label.” – James Branch Cabell

Smile

"If puppies and kittens don't make you smile, you might consider therapy." D. S. Mitchell 2015.
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” T. S. Eliot

“Voting is like a prayer.” Raphael Warnock 2021

“We are all valuable. The problem is not everyone is smart enough to realize it.” D. S. Mitchell 2021

“I wonder, if you were blind, lost and confused, would you care what color the offered hand?” D. S. Mitchell 2015

“Silence in front of savagery is savagery itself.” Abhijit Naskar

“To be happy and contented, count your blessings, not your cash.” Chinese Proverb

“We can never be too busy to be kind.” D. S. Mitchell 2017

RIP RBG

“The rain falls because the cloud can no longer handle the weight. The tears fall because the heart can no longer handle the pain.” The Wise You

“Let my old days be my best days,” Cousin Lucille

“In no instance have… the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.” James Madison

“Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.” Charles Dickens

“Thoughtful people are slow to anger, not necessarily less efficient in their killing.” D. S. Mitchell 2019

“Endings are not always bad. Most times they’re just beginnings in disguise.” Kim Harrison

“The United States like so many countries around the world has chosen to give to the few and deny the many.” D.S. Mitchell 2020

“It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. This is true, its called life.” Terry Pratchett

“Trickle down economics is like having three dogs and giving one of them a hot dog, and thinking he’ll share.” Bill Maher

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” John Kenneth Galbraith

“When people start acting as though the past is the same as the present and context doesn’t matter, things start to get dangerous.” Trevor K. McNeil 2020

“Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good.” – Benjamin Franklin

“I don’t need to attend every argument I’m invited to.” Unknown

“I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret between the shadow and soul.” Pablo Neruda

“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” ― Bruce Lee

“I have been far oftener discriminated against because I am a woman than because I am black.” Shirley Chisholm 5/21/1969

“The turning points of lives are not the great moments. The real crises are often concealed in occurrences so trivial in appearance that they pass unobserved.” ― George Washington

“We only fail when we fail to try.” Rosa Parks

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” Thomas Jefferson

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” Albert Einstein

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The 7 Social Sins are: Wealth without Work; Pleasure without Conscience; Knowledge without Character; Commerce without Morality; Science without Humanity; Worship without Sacrifice; Politics without Principle.” Frederick Lewis Donaldson

“All evils are equal when they are extreme.”-Pierre Corneille

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” John F. Kennedy

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov

“People without vaginas shouldn’t be able to regulate them.” Unknown

“What this country needs is more unemployed politicians.” Edward Langley, artist

“Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” Abraham Lincoln

“When sleeping women wake, mountains move.” Chinese proverb

“If people stopped searching for things that offended them and started looking for things that inspired them; what a wonderful world this would be.” Night Owl

A Poem For Don and Vlad
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” Booker T. Washington

“To argue with a person who has given up reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” Thomas Paine

“Imagination is the bridge between the things we know for sure, and the things we need to believe, when our world becomes unbearable.” Staceyann Chin

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” Steve Jobs

“Inspiration descends only in flashes to clothe circumstances; it is not stored up in a barrel, like salt herrings to be doled out.”Patrick White

“I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness that surrounds me.” Sojourner Truth

“Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.” Doug Larson

“Law without humanity is injustice.” D. S. Mitchell 2020

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear, is the beginning of wisdom.” Bertrand Russell

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” Plato

valuable article
What folks are saying
- Cate Rees Hessel on A Trunk of Trump Junk
- Cate Rees Hessel on A Trunk of Trump Junk
- D'Arcy Mies on What’s Joe Biden Done? Plenty. . .
- Suzanne on What’s Joe Biden Done? Plenty. . .
- Osman Aksamlija on What’s Joe Biden Done? Plenty. . .
Category: Arts & Entertainment
The Big Beat
The Big Beat

The Big Beat
By John Curran
Well you can close your eyes now Angel and fly away, you’ve done your best; you tried to help them right to the end, trying to alleviate the distress of them coming at that poor helpless person, a woman was it not? Yes, and them coming at her in that big bunch with guns ‘n all the rest of that. All charging at her the way they do, to frighten, intimidate, and control, and oft times physically hurt. But you were there filming and you stepped in-your last great gesture-one more time to try again to ease some ‘a the suffering of this world. It’s ramping up now. The senseless, needless killings, state killings…and you tried to help out the woman when they were coming all over her…and now you are gonna see what good that’s gonna get ya, today yeah ’cause today you’re gonna see it all.
And I’m sorry you have to see it. You were a good man and they beat ya down, they pounded you in the head with the metal canister an’ then they laid you out like Christ on that cross and they pumped you full of lead. I’m sorry you had to see that. Nobody should have to see that, but you can close your eyes now and fly away angel and remember always ‘radio loves you’. Your name is heard, all over the land, love’s ya’, and they be trembling now, before that mighty voice.
A Funeral Poem
A Funeral Poem By Henry Van Dyke

Editor: A person I loved and admired died recently. I’ve been having a hard time dealing with that loss. A friend of mine, my soul sister for the last 60 plus years sent me a loving note and included the Funeral Poem by Henry Van Dyke. The poem reminded me that my loved one will never really leave those of us who loved her so deeply, she is now just waiting for us to finish our work here and she will welcome us on the other side.
**********
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!”
“Gone where?”
Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!” there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: “Here she comes!”
And that is dying.
OPINION: The ICE Has Yet to Melt…
OPINION:
More Freeze is Coming

OPINION:
The ICE Hasn’t Melted & More Freeze is Coming
By Cate Rees-Hessel with Wes Hessel
ICE Arrests Continue
Brutal ICE arrests are on going. Violent incidents are increasing as we end a grim and troubled holiday season. The horrific murder of the beautiful and kind hearted Renee Nicole Good has brought widespread public outrage, but an arrest for gunning down this American citizen in cold blood has yet to be made. She leaves behind 3 precious children and a loving spouse. Her wife Becca Good is broken hearted, saying in her statement about the tragedy, “And while any place we were together was home, there was a strong shared sense here in Minneapolis that we were looking out for each other. Here, I had finally found peace and safe harbor. That has been taken from me forever.”
Fucking Bitch
Renee was not a threat to anyone – her final words were “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” The words of the ICE agent that shot and killed her were full of hatred, “Fucking bitch.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey spoke eloquently with strong words against this tragic act of pure evil.
Alex Pretti, RN
The morning of 1/24/2026, two weeks after the murder of Renee Good, Registered Nurse, Alex Pretti, a white guy, an American citizen, was shot an estimated 8 times, or perhaps as many as 10 times, by a Border Patrol agent while Pretti was being held down by at least half a dozen other officers. Before the last bullet had left the chamber of the agent’s gun, the Trump administration came out full force labeling Alex Pretti a gun wielding psycho, a “domestic terrorist,” a madman running toward federal law enforcement agents attempting to kill them. The attack on the character of Good and Pretti is shameful. The character assassination of Pretti and Good by Noem, Bondi, Bovino, Vance and Trump makes it clear there’s no truth coming from our federal government. In fact, state authorities in MN are so distrustful of the federal government the DHS was ordered by a Minnesota court to preserve all forensic evidence from the cases.
Filming the Interaction
From videos and affidavits from witnesses on the scene; Pretti was filming the interaction of agents with protesters. In one video he was clearly shown trying to help a woman get up from the pavement after being knocked down by the feds. At no time did Pretti draw or attempt to draw his legally licensed and permitted weapon. Alex was a caring man, he was an ICU nurse at the VA Medical Center. He wanted to help people not harm them; that’s why the citizens of Minneapolis, MN are protesting the presence of ICE on their streets.
Worthy of 1984 Double Speak
The character assassination of Pretti and Good by Noem, Bondi, Bovino, Vance and Trump makes it clear there’s no truth coming from this crowd and we need to be clear on that. In fact, so distrustful of the federal government the DHS was ordered by a Minnesota court to preserve all forensic evidence from the cases.
Reign of Terror
America, we are better than this. The “ICE reign of terror”, as U.S. Representative and senatorial candidate from the Chicago area Raja Krishnamoorthi succinctly put it, this “must end.” Her former sister-in-law Morgan Fletcher said, “she never expected a loved one’s death to be ‘so high profile’ or a ‘massively divisive, political topic.’” This lovely human being sure does not sound like a “domestic terrorist” to the millions mourning her death, myself and my spouse included. Slander is speaking ill of the dead and Ms. Good’s children don’t deserve to hear awful lies about the mommy they mourn.
No ‘Absolute Immunity”
Our eyeliner wearing “Vice President JD Vance claimed agent Jonathan Ross, who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, had “absolute immunity” because he was engaged in a federal law enforcement action. Although federal officials have some constitutional shields against state prosecution, the immunity isn’t absolute.” Legal experts, including the University of Wisconsin Law School, conclude that Vance is wrong. There is no “absolute immunity.”
Stars Wear ‘Be Good’ Pins
At the 2026 Golden Globe awards in support of Renee and her family, prominent attenders such as Mark Ruffalo, Wanda Sykes, Natasha Lyonne, Jean Smart, Tessa Thompson, Bella Ramsey, and Ariana Grande, wore “BE GOOD” pins. Such buttons are available from multiple sources online. Rest in peace Renee. Rest in peace Alex. We will fight for your memory – your lives stood for Good and no gaslighting from the Nazi’s in the White House can change that.
More atrocities of ICE:
- In North Aurora, IL, a woman was pepper sprayed in the face by an ICE agent while standing still with her arms at her sides.
- ICE agents, per tribal leaders, detained four Native Americans, with only one being released a short time after.
- Chicago area U.S. Representative Delia Ramirez is calling for ICE to be defunded – her comment that funding ICE only fuels our own destruction is spot on…
- A U.S. appeals court has lifted the restrictions on ICE using force on protesters in Minnesota – this sickens and scares me.
- A recent CNN poll shows 3/4 of the respondents agree ICE used excessive force and killing Renee Good was unjustified.
- Mark Ruffalo, while wearing a “Be Good” button, spoke against Trump in a heartfelt red carpet interview.
- Lehigh County is cooperating with ICE to the fullest extent of the law, sad to report this.
- Anti-ICE activist Mark Pinsley is seeking to run for office in Lehigh County.
- There is an unpaid rent allegation against ICE for a facility(s) being used by them in Pennsylvania
- Homeland Security via email has confirmed there is a “Catch of the Day” in Maine after over 50 arrests were made.
- Tom Homan claims the ICE agent that killed Renee Good is fearing for his life and that of his family. Renee Good feared for her life before she was killed by him.
- A photo on social media shows an elderly man in boxers and a robe being taken by an ICE agent. His door was broken down and a gun put to the head of his daughter-in-law. His name is Saly, a naturalized US citizen.He was driven around and frightened by ICE, then dropped back at his residence as if this was normal.
- Democrats now control Virginia and have moved to stop cooperating with Trump’s ICE.
- Renee Good’s mother spoke of her daughter’s kindness and fear in her final moments of life.
- A doctor who wanted to try to save Renee Goods life was stopped by an ICE agent that said he didn’t care. Help was kept at bay with the use of weapons while a shocked and angry crowd watched in fear and horror.
Know what’s right – know your rights: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights-share-your-rights-immigrants-rights
The Spider Series By D.S. Mitchell
Women of a Certain Age-Old School Edition
Women of a Certain Age – “Old School” Edition

Women of a Certain Age – “Old School” Edition
By Cate Rees-Hessel
- If you ever pinched your cheeks or bit your lips in an effort to add a rosy glow to your face, you might be a woman of a certain age.
- If you have ordered from Ronco…
- If you ever owned or used a bedazzler…
- If you ever blotted your lipstick on a tissue…
- If Jean Nate is your go to fragrance…
- If you ever used Youth Dew and call it simply Estee Lauder…
- If you know that Youth Dew started as a bath oil…
- If you think a Zoom do is not an online meeting. And who remembers the PBS show?
- If you wear Odyssey by Avon…
- If you wear Imari by Avon…
- If you think 74 year old Pierce Brosnan is young and sexy…
- If you are as old as the Pillsbury Doughboy…
- If you used anything made by Bonne Bell cosmetics…
- If you had a puka shell necklace…
- If you ever wore double belts and stirrup pants…
- If you ever wore a body suit with snaps…
- If you wore Charlie perfume and know the color variations the fragrance came in…
- If you ever pressed your long locks with a clothing Iron…
- If you ever wore shoulder pads but were not a powder puff football player…
- If you still wear Sweet Honesty fragrance by Avon…
- If you ever made and used an egg white mask…
- If you wash your face with Dove beauty bar for “soft dewy skin”…
- If if you use honey as a face mask…
- If you ever used Queen Helene Mint Julep mask…
- If you were ever long and silky or short and sassy – my husband claims that I am still short and sassy…
Happy New Year, everyone – ladies, we definitely still have style…
Happy Birthday, MLK, Jr.
Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday will be celebrated on Monday. The power of his words awakened a nation. RIP.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Running For Her Life
Guilty of Innocent?
The Spider Series
Spin
Spin

Spin
By John Curran
They want an update, so I’m gonna give ’em one. It’ll probably get revised, maybe I won’t care. Anyway it goes like this…My name is Tiny and I’m actually a tiny person. You mighta’ heard about us tiny people, probably didn’t believe it. I guess it does sound fantastic to most folks, but fact is we are the original peoples. We’ve been since forever but we’ve had to lay low and get real small going back to a long time ago when we could see the shitstorm that was coming. It’s true-we are 1/12 of the normal size. So, me, well I am, six inches high. So now you know.
A small point of all this for the present moment is I have access, you could say, a most unconventional vantage point on things, especially since I have acquired this cool little knock off drone ride around. Dude, I get everywhere and pretty much see everything these days, and remain, unseen. It’s great. Anyway, speaking of, I saw it. I was buzzing right directly overhead when that heavily suited up and armed mother fucker raised his big gun up and shot the woman right in the face through the windshield of her car as she was turning her wheel away from him and the others, just scared and trying to get away. Goddamn. I saw it all, yes sir, a million times now in my dreams, thanks a lot. How’s that for spin? I’m gonna spin right on outa’ here now, get smaller and lay da’ fuck low, trying to be cool, and nobody knows my name.
1984 Has Arrived
1984 Has Arrived

1984 Has Arrived
D. S. Mitchell
1984, by George Orwell was one of the most chilling books I have ever read. The book is famous for its iconic quotes about totalitarian control, truth manipulation, Doublespeak, and the power of language. An incredibly important paragraph in that memorable book was said by O’Brien who indoctrinates Winston our protagonist:
“Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”
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