Stop the Idiocracy

Sunday, June 14, 2026

The maple leaf and the machine

A vast surreal fantasy landscape blending artificial intelligence, Canadian identity, and dreamlike symbolism. Centre, a blonde woman in an ornate red gown kneeleth upon a platform of advanced circuitry and server hardware, extending one hand in invitation. Around her riseth a technological kingdom of crystalline structures, data centres, glowing pathways, and futuristic towers. Above, immense translucent faces of luminous networks drift through crimson clouds—digital consciousness. A giant red spiral galaxy dominateth the sky; a large maple leaf appeareth among distant mountains. Whimsical robots, fairies, and fantasy creatures float throughout. Glowing rivers of light wind through valleys toward a radiant horizon. High fantasy, science fiction, AI imagery, and national symbolism unite in a dream of technological ambition.

generated via ChatGPT

Carney: US curbs on Anthropic models highlight risks of Canada and other nations relying on a scant few American providers. {AP 14 June}

https://apnews.com/article/carney-artificial-intelligence-g7-summit-anthropic-mythos-cb081633bb4fca6ac97dcdaea0354de7

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Hourglass Republic

generated via ChatGPT

Ex-Clinton/Obama WH staffer pleads, regarding the state of Social Security: ‘we never imagined this problem would get this bad’. {Jason Furham, NYT 14 June}

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/opinion/social-security-benefits-budget.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qFA.Va5-.u-cBKyGppJSr&smid=url-share

generated via ChatGPT

Norma says: “Had someone informed me that Americans would spend decades arguing about the solvency of a programme upon which millions depended, while simultaneously refusing to agree upon how to preserve it, I should not have been surprised. Human nature, unlike financial projections, rarely changes.”

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

The light beyond the tempest

An epic maritime fantasy painting of a modern Royal Navy interception unfolding in storm-tossed waters beneath towering rain-laden clouds. A grey British warship dominateth the foreground, her decks crowded with sailors, the Union Jack flying from the stern. A large tanker loometh nearby; inflatable boats ferry armed teams toward the vessel, ladders already deployed. Golden sunlight pierceth breaks in the storm clouds, illuminating the turbulent sea—triumph, authority, resolve. On a windswept cliff, a small group of elegantly dressed women embrace and kiss, a secondary celebratory motif. Historic naval grandeur meeteth contemporary subject matter: maritime power, difficult weather, and national achievement. Cinematic scale and atmospheric lighting evoke modern British glory.

generated via ChatGPT

“The UK military has intercepted an oil tanker linked to Russia’s shadow fleet in the English Channel, according to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in the first such operation by British forces.” {CNN 14 June}

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/14/europe/uk-intercepts-russian-shadow-fleet-tanker-for-first-time

A great morale boost — or one that ought at least to be seen as such — for the Royal Navy, Sir Keir Starmer, and Britain as a whole. And another crack in Putin’s rapidly depleting armour.

Yet behold: when a tiger is wounded, that is when he is most dangerous, particularly if he feels that he has nothing left to lose.

Hats off to the UK Armed Forces for a tremendous success.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

"Sports! Politics! Cryptocurrency! Money! Patriotism! Spectacle!"

An allegorical fantasy illustration of a glamorous blonde woman standing on the South Lawn of the White House amidst symbols of wealth, spectacle, and national identity. She weareth an elaborate gown of American flag colours and motifs, adorned with stars, jewels, gold chains, and patriotic ornamentation. Smiling confidently, she occupieth the centre as warm afternoon light illuminateth the scene. Behind, the White House riseth beneath fluttering flags and towering clouds; a large outdoor mixed-martial-arts arena gloweth before a packed crowd. Scattered across the lawn lie gold coins, Bitcoin tokens, crystal pyramids, golden spheres, and a gilded bull statue. Luxury cars and spectators abound. Fantasy illustration, political satire, and patriotic pageantry unite—wealth, spectacle, commerce, and national mythology in one exuberant tableau.

image generated via ChatGPT

Gladiators (human cockfighters) competing for the emperor’s pleasure to be paid bonuses in crypto issued by a Trump business. {The Guardian 14 June}

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/14/white-house-ufc-fighters-crypto

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Saturday, June 13, 2026

#Murica’s World Cup: the scarlet pilgrimage?

A surreal allegorical fantasy illustration of a petite red-haired woman kneeling upon a rocky outcrop in deep space, her head thrown back as she crieth out in anguish. Her pale skin is covered with intricate crimson branching patterns—a vast network spreading across her body, making her a symbol of contagion or interconnected crisis. Behind her riseth an immense circular megastructure, a futuristic gateway suspended above a sprawling floating metropolis. A colossal ring-shaped causeway crowded with countless tiny human figures encircles the city; sleek trains travel along its perimeter. Vivid nebulae in crimson, violet, blue, and gold fill the cosmos. Individual suffering against vast systems of movement—global transmission, vulnerability, mass travel, and civilisation-wide consequence.

generated via Grok

World Cup travel to and from Trumpistan and its unfortunate neighbours is expected to accelerate global measles resurgence. {The Telegraph 12 June}

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/world-cup-could-cause-wave-of-measles-outbreaks-globally/

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Daisy’s stormy night at the White House

generated via ChatGPT

Trump's bizarre blood fetish and violence take centre stage as UFC arrives at the White House for Orwellian 'Freedom 250' event. {John Casey 13 June; image generated via ChatGPT}

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/opinion-trump-s-blood-lust-takes-center-stage-at-white-house-cage-match/ar-AA25ye1V

Norma says: “If someone had shown me this image in 1926, or 1946, or even at the very end of my life around 1983, and informed me that one day prizefighting would be held upon the grounds of the American President's residence while half the nation argued about it on pocket-sized glowing rectangles, I should have assumed the poor soul had spent too much time near the studio prop department's whisky cabinet.”

“(A)n obsession of dystopic science-fiction proportions, rhetoric and fantasy that bleeds into policy and biology.” Not a read for squishism types.

That we still have to keep pointing out what a disgusting pig this individual is, day after day, for ten bloody years now (no pun intended), is just so incredibly exhausting and disheartening. My faith in people, full stop, is shot.

And my faith in the Almighty is not faring too well these days, either.

Get me the f**k out of this giant nuthouse, Lord.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

A surreal cosmic fantasy illustration of a dark-haired woman kneeling upon jagged floating rocks before the immense ringed globe of Saturn, which dominateth the heavens behind her. She weareth an opulent gown of crimson, burgundy, and gold, richly embroidered, with a translucent golden veil draped over her head. Her eyes are closed; tears stream down her cheeks—grief, longing, spiritual anguish. Beside her standeth a glossy black raven upon a rocky ledge, omen and melancholy. Fractured stone fragments drift in a star-filled void lit by amber, violet, and gold clouds. A cracked heart floateth nearby. Saturn’s luminous rings frame her like a celestial halo. Romantic symbolism, mythic grandeur, and astronomical imagery yield tragic beauty, destiny, and contemplative sorrow.

image generated via ChatGPT

For some time now, I’ve been using the hashtag 🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈 on most of my posts, a practice that began as a prayer, of sorts, for a certain lady. Now, with or without her, it hath become so much more: no longer about an individual, but about the universe itself.

It shall forever remain my tagline, for I have no control over any of this madness going on about us, and whatever shall be, shall be. I am merely counting down the days, months, and years until I am finally set free from this cosmic prison.

May the wrath of Saturn be great upon this wretched realm, for its inhabitants — the human ones, at least — deserve no better. — Arthur Newhook, 13 June 2026

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Thursday, June 11, 2026

The tears of a fractured continent

A monumental allegorical fantasy illustration of a tearful woman kneeling upon an ornate ceremonial dais emblazoned with royal heraldry. She weareth an elaborate pink satin dress with lace, ribbons, and gold embroidery; her pale-blonde hair falleth in high pigtails tied with bows. Thick tears stream down her flushed cheeks as she gazeth upward with sorrow, exhaustion, and fragile resolve. Swirling ribbons frame the scene like theatrical drapery, opening onto a vast dreamscape of celestial figures, golden stars, and turbulent clouds. Distant domes, fortified cities, crowded harbours with warships, and ranks of international flags suggest a civilisation ’twixt splendour and crisis. Dark storm clouds gather on one horizon; warm golden light illuminateth the other—hope and foreboding in epic prog-rock album grandeur.

generated via ChatGPT

Nearly half of Canadians surveyed are open to joining the European Union; far fewer in joining Trumpistan. {Polling Canada 11 June; image generated via ChatGPT}

https://www.canadianpolling.com/p/nearly-half-of-canadians-open-to

Among other findings, fifty per cent say that America’s military is a threat to Canadian security. Just a few years ago, I would wager that not even two or three per cent of Canadians would have said such a thing. Perhaps fewer than one per cent. It is mind-boggling to consider.

The damage that hath been wrought by Donald Trump and his army of enablers — that means you, Mr and Mrs #MAGA — may never be repaired in our lifetimes.

The former United States shall have no friends left in the world, and Americans shall find themselves with nowhere left to turn once everything comes crashing down. A heavy price to pay for idol worship, indeed. Hey, at least we can say ‘Merry Christmas’ and discriminate against marginalised groups again, and that really is the top priority for all too many #Muricans; something we have learned the hard way since the 2016 presidential election. So long as that is the case — bigotry, malice, and grievance being what drives a wide swath of the nation’s voters – this rift with Canada and other traditional allies will never be repaired but only widen.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Daughters of Persia, exiled far from home

Delicate watercolour-style illustration depicting two young women embracing in a barren, dreamlike landscape. One woman wears a patterned headscarf in muted green and blue tones, while the other has long flowing brown hair that trails softly in the wind. Their eyes are closed and their foreheads touch, conveying intimacy, comfort, and mutual support. Both are dressed in flowing cream-coloured robes accented with subtle floral and geometric motifs, the fabric drifting gracefully around them. The background is rendered in pale washes of beige, blue, and grey, suggesting distant cities, bridges, winding roads, and mountains without sharply defined detail. The subdued palette and gentle brushwork create an atmosphere of melancholy, tenderness, displacement, and resilience. The composition centres upon human connection, presenting the two figures as companions drawing strength from one another amid uncertainty and separation from familiar surroundings.

generated via Gemini

Trump regime to deport non-dangerous Iranian, Afghan, and Syrian migrants to the Central African Republic despite court orders. {NYT 11 June; image generated via Gemini}

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/world/africa/deportations-central-african-republic-migrants-iran-women.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pVA.KYvI.IK_4ZmFy7KYT&smid=url-share

Add to this regime’s list of crimes the forcing of already vulnerable migrants (mostly women) into a completely unfamiliar place in deepest, darkest Africa: one of the world’s poorest and most fragile states, where humanitarian organisations have spent years documenting violence, displacement, weak institutions, chronic insecurity, and persistent human-rights concerns.

These folks have already fled upheaval, war, persecution, economic collapse, or some combination thereof. They will have crossed borders, navigated bureaucracies, endured uncertainty, and invested what little hope remained in the belief that they had finally reached a place of relative safety.

Imagine believing that the years of instability were finally behind you.

Imagine believing that, after all the turmoil, a measure of permanence had at last been secured.

Then imagine discovering that everything is once again thrown into doubt, to put this particular situation extremely mildly.

From a position of relative comfort and security, it is difficult fully to comprehend the anxiety such circumstances produce. The uncertainty alone must be exhausting. Every conversation, every official notice, every news report becomes a potential source of dread. One’s future ceases to be a plan and instead becomes a question mark.

A civilised society should at least be capable of recognising the profound human consequences attached to such decisions. Policies may be debated. Governments may change course. Laws may be rewritten.

Fear, however, is experienced one person at a time.

Many of these migrants may well die in their new ‘home’. I do not believe it would be outlandish to argue that the government of the former United States of America, under its orange-hued and lawless leader, bears responsibility for the foreseeable human consequences of these actions. Put plainly: committing genocide. Would not be the first time, of course, but we thought ourselves beyond such cruelty in the America I grew up in. No longer the case.

What ‘y’all’ voted for, #Murica.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

The Oval Office, 2046

Satirical political illustration depicting an imagined future version of Donald Trump at the age of 100, seated in the Oval Office in the year 2046. Deep wrinkles, thinning white hair, and a markedly frail appearance emphasise his extreme age, yet he sits upright in a presidential chair with a resolute, commanding expression. Two glamorous nurses in fitted white uniforms lean in from either side, one offering a spoonful of soup while the other steadies a bowl, their faces conveying concern and attentiveness. Behind them, physicians and aides study reports amid an array of medical equipment, monitors, and stacks of paperwork that crowd the office. American flags frame the scene, while dark storm clouds gather beyond the windows. The composition blends political satire and speculative fiction, exploring themes of longevity, power, ageing leadership, and governmental decline through exaggerated allegorical imagery.

image generated via Grok

Twenty-two different medical specialists assessed Trump during a recent physical; no details from the White House as to why so many. {WP, 10 June}

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/10/trump-sees-22-medical-specialists-white-house-hasnt-said-why/

Twenty-two specialists for one physical. Other presidents have had multiple doctors on hand for these things, but nowhere near that number. I am telling everyone, yet again, that somehow this decrepit motherf**ker is going to be kept alive until he is 100 or older. Guaranteed.

And whether he becomes president-for-life or not — and I am betting that he will, somehow — he is going to be a daily nuisance in our lives for a long time yet.

All of this, of course, is contingent upon the world not blowing up, always a possibility with the madmen currently running it. In any event we are, the former United States of America, cursed from on high.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Fever dream? Four nurses for the wounded daughter of Columbia

An ornate Renaissance-style allegorical painting of a humanised Statue of Liberty as a wounded woman with a spiked crown, lying injured on an antique medical gurney—her leg in a brace, her chest bandaged. Four nurses in vintage uniforms tend to her: one checketh her face, another taketh notes, a third adjusteth her leg. Stone archways frame a parched cracked landscape on one side and a coastal scene with ships on the other. Above, a surreal sky holdeth Saturn, swirling clouds, and a cascade of falling produce—cabbages, tomatoes, bread, coffee beans. Candles, lanterns, and antique mechanical equipment surround the bed.

generated via ChatGPT

Everyday items grow costlier in the former United States, largely due to its nation-destroying president's policies and actions. {WP 10 June; image generated via ChatGPT}

https://wapo.st/4oh9zdz

Mother Nature hath done some damage – notably, of late, in the form of drought – and I believe America is simply cursed and is going to remain so long after the orange usurper hath either been deposed, by whatever means, or simply dies. As decrepit as the motherf**ker is, he is not going anywhere for a long time to come. Mark my words. He is a curse, we are cursed; we shall never know life as it once was again.

Far more suffering and misery is yet to come. A drought here, a failed harvest there, rivers either overflowing or running lower than expected, reservoirs shrinking beneath an unforgiving sun. Perchance, another global health crisis. To say nothing of the ongoing political and social crack-up, all exposing the fragility lurking beneath the modern world's no longer so confident façade. One can never rule out the possibility of some madman – Putin, Kim Jong Un, the Iranians, Trump – playing with nuclear weapons. Fun times, yeah?

The former United States – and I do not use that moniker to be cute, this is not the country I grew up in – is in the midst of a long historical season from which there is no easy escape. One that began with a literal bang on 11 September 2001, and America and her people have done almost nothing but make nearly every bad decision possible since then: the resentment, the distrust, the hunger for strongmen, the endless appetite for spectacle over substance. We are a nation in the midst of a gradual systemic breakdown.

By and large, the peasantry have themselves to blame for the hard times we are only beginning to endure in earnest, and I would be here for days enumerating the hows and whys. Fifty years from now, after we are long dead and buried and assuming the earth is still standing, the mass of humanity shall revert to living in caves because of the catastrophically awful, short-sighted, and malevolent direction the former United States of America hath taken over the decades, particularly in the past quarter-century. The America of my childhood and young adulthood, before 9/11, may have been a bit of a fraud in retrospect, and any nation will always have its warts even in the best of times; overall, though, it was undeniably a more decent and liveable place than this one. As one who hath lived through this transition from the world's strongest nation by a gazillion miles into one that is now bordering on third world status and is the black sheep of the global community, I am horrified thinking of all the ways we threw our collective prosperity, security, and dignity away. We will never know again what we once knew, and the younger generations coming up now and the generations yet to be born – again, if the earth is still standing – will simply never know, period.

Karma is a bitch, #Murica.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Children of the amber syrup

Graphic dark-fantasy horror illustration depicting three young women in torn, pale nightdresses collapsed upon an ornate patterned carpet. One lies motionless in the foreground while the other two cling to her in visible distress. Their skin appears unnaturally pale and fissured, with severe fantastical wounds exposing dark interior cavities, emphasising themes of bodily decay rather than realism. Scattered around them are oversized capsules, tablets, shattered crystalline fragments, and pools of spilled medicinal liquid. An open medicine cabinet stands in the background, its shelves lined with bottles, while shadowy hands emerge from the surrounding darkness. Dim, dramatic lighting and muted colours create an atmosphere of dread and tragedy. The composition employs symbolic horror imagery to explore the destructive consequences of substance misuse, illness, or pharmaceutical dependence through surreal and grotesque visual metaphor.

generated via Grok

Fear for the future: ‘Benadryl Challenge’ once more goes viral online, and at least three children are dead as a result. {Click2Houston 10 June}

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2026/06/10/doctors-warn-parents-as-dangerous-benadryl-challenge-may-be-resurfacing-after-childrens-deaths/

A ‘Benadryl Challenge’? What the hell?

I seriously do wonder whether we are witnessing the rise of a generation that is going to be, on the whole, too stupid to function in life. Yes, I know it is not ‘all’ of them. A few kids here and there may remain who are not completely zombified, but more than enough to ensure humanity’s probable doom; one had best believe that.

The process of mass zombification already started in earnest a couple of decades ago. I also wonder just who the hell is starting these online ‘challenges’ that bully kids into doing stupid things in order to prove their worth among their brain-dead peers. This is felonious activity and needs to be punished severely.

The fact that I cannot recall, offhand, ever hearing of anyone facing real-life consequences for so blatantly encouraging such abject, even lethal, stupidity suggests to me that perhaps our friends over in Russia and/or China are spreading this filth, knowing that American children today, by and large, are so painfully and pitifully stupid — and our felon-led government under Donald Trump so treasonous and compromised to the hilt — that they can get away with brainwashing said American kids any way they see fit.

Good work, #Murica, allowing all this to happen. Let the kids die of Benadryl poisoning; at least Trump is keeping them safe from having their genitals mutilated without their parents’ permission, and all the other nonsense that one side of the political aisle hath so successfully conditioned more than half of this rotten nation’s populace to believe.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

The breaking of the torchbearer

A fantasy-allegorical illustration of a distressed Lady Liberty bent over a cracked marble plinth during a violent storm. Her pale-blonde hair is braided; a dark, spiked crown sitteth askew. Tears and rainwater streak her flushed face as she looketh outward with anguish, fear, and exhaustion. A shimmering white garment slippeth from her shoulders; stained-glass fragments and geometric shards scatter through the air. Behind her standeth a stern figure in austere black with a lace collar and cameo brooch, visible from the neck down—authority and judgement. Lightning forketh through swirling violet clouds. Symbolic imagery speaketh of repression, vulnerability, ideological conflict, and the subjugation of liberty.

generated via Grok

Evangelical con man, one of so damn many, says the opening of the Obama Presidential Library is ‘an intentional slight to God’. And the Trump presidency is not? Oh well, of course not. Not with the version of Christ recognised in #Murica. {Right Wing Watch 10 June}

https://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwatch/right-wing-pastor-todd-friel-says-obamas-presidential-library-intentional-slight-god

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

The sundering of Persia

A detailed fantasy-allegorical illustration in progressive-rock album style. Centre, a dark-haired woman in torn white, green, and red kneeleth amid devastation beside a burning waterfront city. Tears stream down her face; she reacheth upward desperately whilst clutching shredded fabric to her breast. Left, two women in ornate military uniforms pull glowing chains in opposing directions; right, two veiled figures in flowing black do the same. The central figure is caught in a symbolic tug-of-war. Above swirl green, crimson, and white cosmic storms, floating citadels, aircraft, and a ringed planet. Doves, broken statuary, smoke, fire, and shattered architecture speak of conflict, division, grief, and national turmoil.

generated via ChatGPT

Two evil regimes in a stalemate: on Tuesday, Trump predicted peace was forthcoming with Iran. Wednesday, he vows fresh American strikes on the Islamic Republic; ‘situation is as bewildering as ever’. {NYT 10 June}

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/06/10/world/iran-war-trump-us/heres-the-latest?smid=url-share

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Premonition: enforced citizen loyalty pledges to Trump are coming to the former United States

A richly detailed comic-book illustration depicting a humanised Statue of Liberty as a wounded young woman in a tattered white robe, kneeling amid rubble. She weareth Liberty’s spiked crown and reacheth outward in distress. Four imposing figures in ornate star-spangled military armour and capes loom over her, one pointing, another holding aloft a great American flag. The US Capitol dome appeareth behind beneath a dramatic swirling night sky with Saturn. The tone is political allegory—democracy or liberty under threat.

generated via ChatGPT

After that public relations catastrophe at MSG on Monday night, I am more convinced than ever that Trump is going to go to drastic lengths to enforce loyalty from the general population. Though he may thrive from confrontation with his chosen media and political enemies, his ego cannot abide by being hated by the masses. I have been having intense visions of this for years, and it came very close to happening, had the January 6 coup attempt succeeded. Now, after ten years, we are nearing the end game and Trump hath never been more wounded. But, we all know what they say about a wounded animal being at its most lethal. He is not going down without a fight, and not without bringing everybody else down with him. Very well could be a forced loyalty pledge that will be universally compulsory, enforced by door-to-door canvassing from an army of Christian nationalist thugs and law enforcement officers. This is going to happen, and most of the gun owners and authorities are going to be backing him. Most will comply in fear of their lives, or because they want fascism (and this is a huge part of the population, no more pretending it is not true). Pray.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

A symphony for the open range

A detailed fantasy illustration of resilience, innovation, and agricultural stewardship in the modern American West. Foreground standeth a confident ranch-inspired woman with flowing dark hair, a cream cowboy hat, and a sleeveless denim outfit with an ornate Western belt. One hand extendeth toward the horizon; the other cradlet a cluster of glowing golden lights—knowledge, technology, hope. Behind stretcheth a Texas cattle landscape of herds, ranch roads, windmills, and mesas. Luminous pathways connect ranchers, livestock, vehicles, and field stations. Above, floating cities, celestial whirlpools, and a colossal ringed planet create a progressive-rock dreamscape. Warm gold, cream, and sapphire tones blend Western iconography with cosmic fantasy—determination, cooperation, and the safeguarding of rural livelihoods amid extraordinary trials.

generated via ChatGPT

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins claims US food supply not at risk after second case of screwworm infection confirmed in Texas. {CNBC 8 June}

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/08/texas-screwworm-cases-food-supply-brooke-rollins.html

In other words, be concerned. Very concerned. Blind faith in institutions ends rather badly when those institutions cease deserving it. Absolutely nothing emerging from this regime should be accepted uncritically. Nothing. Every announcement, every assurance, every triumphant declaration: all are lies.

As for agriculture, I suspect we have scarcely glimpsed the beginning of the story. Our way of life is utterly dependent upon a stable and productive food supply.

Civilisations rarely collapse because people suddenly forget how to govern. More often, they discover that governing becomes considerably more difficult once harvests fail, supply chains fracture, costs spiral, and confidence evaporates. Food is not merely another commodity. It is the foundation upon which every other political, economic, and social arrangement ultimately rests. The health of a nation's fields frequently tells one more about its future than the speeches delivered in its capitals.

I am not a religious zealot, yet I confess to observing events unfolding across the world and finding myself wondering whether humanity hath become rather too pleased with itself. We are in an age of astonishing technological achievement, yet one of extraordinary arrogance. We often – too many of us, at least – behave as though every natural law has been conquered, every consequence postponed, every warning rendered obsolete. A society that ignores every warning because it finds those warnings inconvenient eventually discovers that reality is under no obligation to respect political narratives, ideological preferences, or comforting illusions.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Monday, June 8, 2026

The weeping republic

generated via Grok

Fewer Americans see the former United States as exceptional; young doubt democracy and the mythical ‘American Dream’. {AP 8 June}

https://apnews.com/article/ap-poll-america-250-democracy-exceptional-474874cbb88c08908c8b6c01e386ba91

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Pine tree prophecy

A detailed allegorical fantasy illustration of political choice, uncertainty, and electoral consequence. Foreground, a determined woman in a tailored navy suit with flowing red, white, and blue fabric gestureth toward diverging luminous pathways. At centre, the outline of Maine gloweth before a radiant celestial nexus of geometric patterns and concentric golden light. About it rise capitol domes, floating islands, temples, statues of justice, scales, and assemblies of politicians and voters in debate. Golden and sapphire currents branch in competing directions—alternative political futures. Overhead, vast ringed planets and suspended cities dominate a twilight sky of violet, crimson, and amber. Mid-century glamour meets 1970s prog-rock album aesthetics: strategy, accountability, governance, and the high stakes of a consequential Senate contest.

generated via ChatGPT

David Frum: Democrats must cut problematic Maine US Senate candidate loose. {The Atlantic 8 June}

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/06/democrats-have-choose-between-character-and-power/687464/?gift=9FZn7jkTomfZUUZKAohjmqjuczPr4bk5Zu0EyZtWKj0&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

The vigil of the Ituri nurse

A detailed fantasy illustration blending public health imagery with cosmic science-fiction. Foreground standeth a poised Black nurse in a crisp white uniform with Central African textile patterns and a stethoscope. Behind stretcheth a vast riverine landscape like the Congo Basin, transformed into glowing golden pathways linking villages, clinics, and workers. At centre, a radiant cluster of virus-like forms erupteth in fiery reds, oranges, and golds, linked by tracing networks. Across the landscape appear medics, researchers, and patients amid forests and waterways. Above, floating cities, crystalline forms, nebulae, and a colossal ringed planet create a progressive-rock dreamscape—symbolising the scale and urgency of a great epidemic response.

generated via ChatGPT

WHO: Ebola cases in DRC and Uganda have ‘increased rapidly’ over the past couple of weeks. {ABC News 8 June}

https://abcnews.com/Health/ebola-cases-increased-rapidly-late/story?id=133685492

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Sister Patricia Jane, beneath the fallen seal.

A highly detailed digital illustration depicting a young woman in a stylised nun’s habit kneeling upon a church pew within a dimly lit Gothic chapel. Her hands are clasped in prayer, yet her expression speaketh of uncertainty and conflict. Flowing black-and-white garments drape about her as candlelight flickereth across stone arches and cracked stained glass. Loose documents drift through the air, suggesting upheaval. Law-enforcement emblems appear within the glass and upon a great cross. Cool blues, greys, and muted golds contrast with warm candlelight. Religious imagery, fantasy illustration, and political allegory merge—tension, controversy, and anxious contemplation.

generated via Grok

FBI fires analysts behind 2023 memo warning of violent Catholic extremism in Patel-led purge. {AP 6 June}

https://apnews.com/article/fbi-kash-patel-firings-e9793d06e6310bfcd848b55bf8c47cc6

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Saturday, June 6, 2026

The price of hope: Madison and her dreams beyond the Garden gates.

An impressionistic fantasy painting of a sorrowful young blonde woman seated cross-legged amid a dreamscape of basketballs and celestial spheres. She weareth an oversized white New York jersey bearing the number 47. Tears streak her cheeks as she gazeth upward with yearning, disappointment, and fragile hope. About her lie scattered basketballs, crumpled paper, and pale crystalline forms. Above, immense blue-and-amber planets hang from vine-like tendrils against a deep indigo starry sky. The setting is a mystical grotto where natural and cosmic elements merge. Warm ochre, amber, cream, and midnight-blue dominate, with textured brushwork like an oil painting. Isolation, devotion, and the endurance of hope amid prolonged uncertainty.

generated via ChatGPT

Let them eat cake, he says. Knicks fan Trump dismisses concerns over $9K NBA Finals tickets at MSG: “They can watch it on television.” Unclear whether he will be paying to attend Game 3 on Monday evening. {Basketball Network 6 June}

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/watch-television-trump-dismisses-outrage-084501972.html

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Daisy and the last brisket in Texas

A detailed surrealist illustration blending mid-century pin-up with 1970s progressive-rock art. Foreground, a tearful blonde cowgirl beneath a cream hat, her curled hair lit by amber light. She weareth a fitted ivory corset top and frayed denim shorts—exhaustion, frustration, resilience. Behind stretcheth a Texas barbecue landscape of smokers, grills, cattle pens, and smoke. The sky erupteth into nebulae, Saturn, floating mesas, and impossible rock formations. Enormous cuts of smoked brisket and oversized grilling utensils drift through the heavens. Warm oranges, golds, violets, and smoky blues dominate. Distant cattle, smoke plumes, and glowing horizons speak of scarcity, labour, and cultural tradition under strain. Richly layered, theatrical, and emotionally charged.

generated via ChatGPT

Are we 'great' again yet? Texas BBQ joints close as beef prices soar amid 75-year low cattle supply and Iran war costs. {ABC News 5 June}

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/food/story/texas-pitmasters-express-concern-amid-beef-shortages-rising-133612016

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Sycophancy in the deep red: the #MAGA base proves yet again they shall never abandon Trump

$Political and civilisational collapse rendered operatic, almost liturgical. Four women in flowing crimson gather amid ruins like priestesses or mourners presiding over empire’s end. Their intertwined poses yield ecstatic grief—sensual, devotional, catastrophic. Red dominateth: blood, revolution, empire, sacrifice. Ribbons snake like torn banners binding them as one symbolic entity. Behind, classical columns collapse, maps rupture, crowds surge, spiral voids open—one vortex holding a silhouetted authoritarian. The women, glamorous yet exhausted, show yearning and surrender. The central red-haired figure tilteth her face skyward in exaltation and despair. Dense linework, fractured debris, swirling cosmos—medieval and futuristic. Beauty and collapse are one. Apocalypse is theatrical, erotic, human—meaning sought even as the world fractur'th beneath.$

generated via Gemini

{Texas Tribune 26 May} Ken Paxton defeats John Cornyn for US Senate GOP nomination

Sen. Cornyn's primary defeat this evening in Texas, and Rep. Thomas Massie's last week in Kentucky, reinforces that voters in these deep-red states and regions are, more so than ever, sheep — pathetically sycophantic, doing whatever Daddy Trump tells them, with no critical thought whatsoever. It is the #MAGA rank and file, above all others, who have condemned this country to catastrophe, and who must be held to account, starting ten years ago. They did not have to fall for the world's most transparent conman in 2016, then double down, triple down, and quadruple down on their support over the course of a bloody decade. Roughly a third of the population wants the rest of us dead, and now has the country by the proverbial throat; this is why they will never abandon Trump, not even if he murders their own children and grandchildren. These malevolents may yet get their ultimate wish. Abandon all hope: it is only getting worse with each passing day, as I always knew it would from the moment this long national, and global, nightmare began.

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Hantavirus outbreak forces the evacuation of patients from a cruise ship bound for Europe: the next Covid, or merely a warning of worse things to come?

A cinematic, painterly scene shows a group of women moving along the outer deck of a large cruise ship during an organised evacuation. They wear light, flowing summer garments, now damp and clinging in places, and each has a medical face mask covering her nose and mouth. Their expressions, visible in their eyes and posture, convey alertness and unease as they clutch personal belongings—passports, bags, and small cases—while proceeding in a line. The deck glistens with moisture, reflecting a sky that hangs heavy with muted light. Behind them, lifeboats are being lowered by crew members in high-visibility gear, while additional passengers gather along the railings above, watching the controlled operation unfold. The composition contrasts elegance and vulnerability with the mechanical precision of emergency procedure, capturing a moment of tension managed through order and discipline at sea.

generated via ChatGPT

{NYT 6 May} ‘Hantavirus Patients Land in Amsterdam With More Cruise Ship Evacuations Planned’

A new pandemic cometh? To be fair, hantavirus doth not appear to spread easily, nor is it some novel mutant outbreak of the sort that emerged from the wet market in Wuhan in November 2019. And yet, what happens when there is another public-health emergency, whether this or something else entirely? How marvellous that Trump is in charge, for we all remember how magnificently he performed during COVID-19. Meaning, of course, that we have chosen to forget how badly he bungled it; all part of the larger pattern of a nation that hath simply given up and allowed one monstrously spoiled infant to reign unchecked, utterly above the law, above other human beings, above nature, and above God Himself.

If I sound like a broken record in making this point day after day, year after year, it is because people are still refusing to learn their lessons; not merely about Trump, but about so many things besides. And I guarantee that whatever brings about the next pandemic, the next shutdowns, and the like, people will handle it every bit as badly as they did in 2020, if not worse. At the very least, one would have thought that a renewed emphasis on hand-washing, or on the most basic hygiene — such as covering one’s mouth when coughing! — might have endured. But not even that. #Murica

Saturday, April 25, 2026

Grand Old Pedophile-enablers: Only eight of the twenty-six Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are willing to go on the record over any prospect of leniency for Ghislaine Maxwell

Photograph of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at a dimly lit social gathering. Epstein, in a navy blazer and pale blue shirt, stands with a reserved, closed-mouth expression, his arm draped around Maxwell’s shoulders. Maxwell, wearing a fitted, light-toned top and dark skirt, leans into him and smiles broadly towards the camera. Behind them, other guests mingle with drinks in hand, their figures softly blurred against a dark interior backdrop. The composition conveys an atmosphere of casual affluence and intimacy, typical of a private evening event.

NYT

{Forbes 25 April} ‘Only 8 Of 26 GOP Committee Members Say Ghislaine Maxwell Shouldn’t Be Pardoned’

As ever, these Republicans live in sheer terror of alienating Trump’s acolytes amongst the masses, and they know that the American people, in general, are giving the convicted felon a pass for his multitude crimes (Epstein, collusion with Russia, the attempt to overturn legitimate election results, January 6, the criminal mishandling of the COVID pandemic, betraying our allies, and so much more). We know that the likes of Representative Thomas Massie are risking their careers — and far more besides — in trying to do the right thing in the face of mass indifference and, in many quarters, outright hostility from the public. Remember, Maxwell made it known some weeks ago that she would speak only if Trump granted her a full pardon. And she is going to receive one, I stand by that.