Just the Facts, Ma'am...

Welcome to the Delaniac relaunch!

Welcome to the Delaniac relaunch!

Hope you are all well. It’s been a little quiet on this end regarding posting and I do apologize for that.

You may not care why I’m relaunching now or why Delaniac & Pike X are teaming up and what that means.

If you are interested, the answers to those questions are at the end of this post.

But right now, how ‘bout we just blast off?

Just the Facts, Ma’am…

Let’s start with the supposition that in order to have a civil, intelligent conversation or debate with anyone over anything one must first have a factual basis for that discussion. It is the line of scrimmage. It is the starting gun. It is the Marquis of Queensbury agreed upon rules of engagement. You can’t move the goal posts or the strike zone here. If we can agree on that, read on. If not, there is no purpose in going any further. If so, then as Jackie Gleason would say… And awaaaaaaaaay we go!

Despite what some readers have assumed by my stance on many issues, I am not anti-Republican. This nation has elected outstanding Republican leaders in the house, senate and presidency. Men of vision, compassion and the desire to serve the greater good. Lincoln, Grant, T. Roosevelt, DDE. My admiration for these men is limitless.

It was the Republicans who forced Nixon to resign.

It was the Republicans (almost entirely) who testified at the January 6^th hearings in opposition to the Trump administration’s response to that riot. And please don’t call it a protest. It was as riotous as a riot can be. These tellers of truth were then labeled RINOs, of course. But they are still Republicans. And I support their innate decency. But what they ain’t—is MAGA.

So, am I anti-MAGA? Hell, yes. Just wanted to get that straight.

So my supposition is simply this:

Our elected officials are civil servants whose sole purpose is to serve the American People. Their oath is to uphold and obey the constitution of the United States.

Simple enough, right? Can we agree on that? If so, read on. Because below I am going to state some facts. Irrefutable, unequivocable, good ol’ facts that STILL stand as facts. Even though Newt Gingrich, decades ago, sent the current MAGA agenda into play by challenging what facts actually were, we gotta still call a fact a fact. Let’s revisit that because even though it is so sick it is kinda freakishly fun.

Remember Newt, the guy with the Barney Rubble haircut and the soul of a brick? At the height of his power, pumping up the Law and Order Ticket, bemoaning the phenomenal rise of crime in America, he was told by a reporter that according to the FBI, crime in the U.S. was at its lowest in nearly a decade. Newt’s reply to this was, “Those are your facts, not my facts.” The reporter replied, “No, these are the FBI’s facts.” Crickets from Newt.

This is where our once zealous knack for the facts started to go off the tracks. (Pardon the assonance, please.) I believe it was Daniel Patrick Moynihan who said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”

Agreeable? Hope so, because here are three quick facts, though I could easily list 50. I’m gonna just lay them out and then ask you three simple questions. These are not trick questions. And I REALLY would like to hear your answers.

FACT ONE:

The EPA is proposing cutting regulations that curb air pollution from fossil fuel power plants. This is the fucking EPA! The Environmental Protection Agency. Possibly Nixon’s greatest contribution to the world as a whole.

Question: Why?

Question: How does this serve the American people?

Question: Who does it serve?

FACT TWO:

GOP lawmakers have proposed nearly 1 trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid and food stamps. More than 71 million people are enrolled in Medicaid and 42 million receive food assistance. That is 1/3 of the population.

Question: Why?

Question: How does this serve the American People?

Question: Who does it serve?

FACT THREE:

GOP lawmakers approved a bill to eliminate federal funding for NPR and PBS for the next two years, acting at the behest of President Trump.

Question: Why?

Question: How does this serve the American people?

Question: Who does it serve?

Kick it around. Would love to hear your thoughts. But here is a hint. The answers are all the same.

But if you take some umbrage (as two out of my last 1000 readers did) you better come at me with facts. Not Newt facts, not your facts, not my facts, but just plain fucking facts. Come at me with the facts Joe Friday would be proud of.

Next week we’re gonna talk about how without Mexicans (or immigrants legal or illegal) this whole damn dog and pony show would grind to a halt in about six hours. And maybe a few notes about war…

Now answer some “relaunch” questions you may have…

3…2…1…GO

Your first question might be:

What the heck’s been going on with him that finds him posting only once in a blue moon?

Life happens.

John Lennon sang that “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”

I think there is a lot of truth in that. We’re all spinning too many plates nowadays, it seems, and it can be difficult to focus on what is important.

I’ve been quiet but not idle. I just finished a novel that should have taken me about three months but took two years. That’s like having a baby. So you hand it off to your agent and you wait and see. Not the baby, the book. Meanwhile The Devils You Knew documentary is going well, but tediously slow. Another baby in gestation and post-production, waiting to be born.

Other than that it has been high school graduations, ducks, chickens, gardens and lots of lawn mowing. When it takes you three hours to mow your lawn you either need a smaller lawn or a bigger mower. Maybe some goats.

What is this relaunch thing and why now?

Though we all know what relaunch means to NASA, to me it means just settling back in and kicking out stories I hope you enjoy, and on a far more reliable basis. I’m lighting the fuse now on that because sometimes, no matter how many whirling dervish dishes you’re juggling, you gotta make time for what’s important.

These are serious times for all of us, no matter what side of the fence you’re on. And I’ll be talking a lot about that. And I want to hear from you. Your point of view is always welcome.

And there is plenty of room for fun, as always. If you can’t laugh why the hell even get up in the morning.

So what’ll be different?

You’ll be hearing from me more. And Substack won’t be the only place you’ll find my full posts.

Oddly enough, I am no great fan of Substack or social media platforms. But unfortunately, it does provide a venue for reaching a lot of people at once. Admittedly there is more white noise out there to cut through than ever before, and I can only hope to ring a few bells now and then.

The big news about this kick-off is that Delaniac and Pike X will together be bringing you must broader content and diversity, including guests.

And that means what?

I’ll write what I write and Gaille of Pike X will write what she writes. But we’re going to work together to make all of it more widely available in order to engage with more of you.

Though there is some crossover in the topics we will be discussing, these are not two voices blasting through the same megaphone. Our styles are incredibly different and the more expansive the point of view, the more we hope to cut through the crap and get to the gist of things.

And besides the dysfunctional State of the Union, there is still plenty of silly shit going on out there and you can bet we will touch upon that. This includes ducks, chickens, cats, housecleaning, cooking, gardening, and all the things we do to make it possible.

Why are we doing this?

Though always grateful and beholding to our paid subscribers (god love ya) there will be content available to casual readers of the same quality and commitment to detail.

Frankly, if we were in this to make money, we’d be the least effective entrepreneurs in the world. If you broke it down to the hourly labor we put into these missives, the income from this flies miles below minimum wage. So, though it is a labor of love, it is also a labor of necessity.

As for why Gaille, well, I’ve been working with Gaille of PikeX for the last six years (actually since college) and she brings a whole different skill set to the drawing table.

Though her journalistic commitments and running her company, Coyote Web Synergy, keep her busy way more than full time, her creative writing in both fiction and poetry is outstanding and I hope she’ll be sharing some of that with you. She has the things a good writer has to have—her own voice and her own point of view. Check it out for yourself here.

And then there’s that web-witchery social media voodoo she’s into…

In keeping with our desire and openness to hear different opinions from all of you, there are many voices to come. Artists, educators, musicians, poets, writers and ponderers of all things either pertinent to today’s society or good ole nostalgic rambling.

And that includes you. We’d love to feature your thoughts and feelings on any subject that may arise. Upcoming we will hear from David Lungren, a lifelong teacher and current docent at the World War I Museum in Kansas City.

‘Til then, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

Gaille’ll be doing her Pike X thing—and in my next post, you and I are we’re gonna talk about how without Mexicans (or immigrants legal or illegal) this whole damn dog and pony show would grind to a halt in about six hours. And maybe a few notes about war…