Trump's Third Term Efforts and Bloody Car Wrecks

 For me there is a certain level of morbid fascination when it comes to wondering about the thought processes going on in Trump’s head. The best and simplest analogy would be its the same as if I was passing by a bloody multiple car accident on the Interstate. I know I should concentrate on my driving, so not to endanger anyone else, but with car wreckage scattered everywhere and emergency workers scrambling to save the victims it's often impossible to not glance over.

Trump’s mere existence is a testament to the inherent failures of the human species. The common assumption by many of the philosophers I’ve read is that no person is totally good or evil. And that the way individuals react to events and circumstances depends on many factors. Long obvious story short, the assumption is that every individual could be a hero or a villain given how they react to factors beyond their control.

But Trump seems to be the exception, he truly thinks he’s above us all. While Trump wants to be loved and admired, he also wants total loyalty and control of everything he can access. Deny him the loyalty he automatically expects and Trump will do everything he can to destroy that person.

Since Trump returned to the White House there has been a steady slide to authoritarianism. Which I find funny in a skewed way since from the time he was declared the winner in November I became convinced this country has been dropped into a badly written but nightmarish political dystopian thriller. In other words I except him to go full Putin with this country developing a problem with healthy people suddenly falling out of perfectly good windows.

Case in point, Trump’s unexpected desire to annex Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. While throwing these tantrums he has alienated every ally the United States has ever had. By his actions Trump has achieved the near impossible by uniting Canadians and thoroughly pissing them off.

But its his desire to run for a third presidential term and defy the Twenty-Second Amendment is for me just added icing to the shit cake a plurality of Americans have forced the rest of us to eat.

“A lot of people want me to do it,” Trump said in a Sunday morning phone call with NBC News.

While the Twenty-Second seem to clear to me, speculation has one of the ways to achieve his desire would be to run J.D. Vance for president and then have the couch fucker pick Trump as his Vice President. Which begs the question that if J.D. did become POTUS what mechanism would the GOP use to make sure he resigned and let Trump back into the Oval Office.

During this NBC News phone call Trump remarked that “a lot of people would like me to” referencing supposed poll numbers indicating voters want him to run for a third term.

Apparently Trump’s sleazy henchman, Steve Bannon, has said that he and others are trying to figure out other ways to achieve a third term. Honestly it doesn’t matter, January 6th is proof enough that the legality of this third term project isn’t a problem for them.

I truly wish I could wake up tomorrow morning and suddenly discover this timeline was a Lovecraftian bad dream. But I’ll admit, it will be fascinating to watch Trump and his syncopates further wreck the United States of America. And yes, like a bad car accident, I have no doubt that at some point there will be blood in the streets.

Veterans Day Protest at The South Carolina State House

Not exactly sure who organized this demonstration but around 80 to 100 people showed up at the State House in Columbia, SC to the Tangerine Hitler and Elmo Musk's DOGE cuts affecting veterans benefits. The large guy in the center holding the flag is me.

 

Honestly, I was worried how the State House security guys would act. While we were there protesting the cuts to veterans programs, our chants quickly turned to calling for Trump's ousting from office and charged with treason.  But while security kept a close eye on us, they didn't get stupid.

I fucking despise Elon Musk. Musk is now the most dangerous man in the world, and I do mean he is a greater threat than Putin. He is suffering from a messiah complex and thinks its his mission to save Western Civilization from the forces of the "Woke Virus." His version of Western Civilization has people working 120 hours a week and living like Dark Age Europe serfs. More importantly Musk has no respect for basic human rights, to him were just animals.  

The level of intelligence displayed by the average Trump loving MAGAt is terrifying by itself. But what is worse is how Trump had essentially declared war on not only our European allies but fucking Canada. Our relationship with the Free World is destroyed. None of our allies will ever trust us again. The part in all this that should scare every American is that there will come a time when we need our friends and they will not come.

I was nothing special while in the active US Army and the the South Carolina National Guard. I was just an average soldier. But it truly disturbs me that a deviant slug who avoided the Vietnam draft by using the excuse of bone spurs.

In a move that comes straight from a badly written comedy Trump's DoD has removed pictures of the B-29 that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan. The reason? That bomber was named "Enola Gay" which upset the homophobic, incompetent asshole now running the military. For those who don't know the Enola Gay was named after the pilot's, Colonel Paul Tibbets' mom.

I was also expecting slack from Trump supporters driving by the State House. But we only had two I know about that talked shit to us while driving by. I have no illusions that our little protest scared anyone of power in South Carolina. The ignorant MAGAts here have drank Trump's delusional Kool-Aid, they are lost. But we did make our presence known and for now that's good enough.

MAGA Cultist Encounter

 

It was right after I clocked in from lunch that I encountered two ladies. I was riding the elevator down from the sixth floor of the children’s hospital where I work. The elevator opened on the fourth floor and they stepped in smiling and obviously in a good mood. Seeing them, I figured it was safe to assume that whatever child they came to visit was well on the way to recovery.  

The older lady who I took to be the mom looked to be in her late 50’s. Dressed in jeans, a simple blouse, and a light sweater she looked like any of a couple of hundred other middle class women you would see in a hospital during a normal day. This lady was talking on her phone as the door closed and that's when she turned towards me and made a point of looking up at me in an exaggerated manner.

It was the kind of gesture average and short people make towards tall men like me. Like they saw something amazing up in the sky and leaned their heads as far back as they could go to appreciate the sight. I’m 6’-5” and while I do find such behavior annoying, I’ve come to understand it.  

The younger woman looked to be mid-twenties and was dressed similarly as the older lady she accompanied. Thankfully, she stayed fixated on her own phone and didn’t pay me any attention. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure what the relationship was between the older and younger lady but she could have been either her daughter or much younger sister.

The elevator started descending and that was when the older lady looked over at me. “You sure are tall,” she said, her face morphing into a rather strange smile. I instantly assumed her next statement would be to ask if I played basketball. The question she did ask was totally unexpected and, for me, creepy. 

“Are you as tall as Barron Trump?” She spoke her face, taking on an expression I imagined was similar to someone seeing a divinely inspired figure walking here on Earth. She looked at me, her eyes blazing with a fervent fire that she knew the true faith and she was, in an indirect way, seeing if I was a believer like her.  

It was pure, unadulterated creepy behavior and proved to me, like there was any doubt, that MAGA is a cult. Yeah, sorry, I avoid people whose fanatical beliefs seem detached from reality. That not only covers religious zealots but moon landing hoaxers, anti-vaxxers, and flat Earthers. We all have our idiosyncrasies, but at some point common sense needs to reign in our innate human failings.  

Whatever the case, the older lady’s question was enough to pull the younger woman’s attention away from her phone. She too looked up at me, a similar glow of conviction on her face.

“Ma’am, I have no idea,” I said as noncommittal as possible. 

They both nodded at me, the creepy factor still present since their movements were almost synchronized. The older lady proceeded to ask me a few other questions about the Trump family that had me feigning ignorance.

My responses were obviously not satisfactory but when the elevator arrived at their floor she didn’t have time to pursue what would have probably been an impromptu lecture. They both walked out and soon disappeared into the greater world.

I went about my business wanting to take a shower.

President Carter Tried to Warn Us

 Entering the Twenty-First Century--The Global 2000 Report To The President

 

The Global 2000 Report to the President was a report commissioned during the last year Carter Administration. Physicist Gerald O. Barney was the director of the study that the press at the time declared was “The Doomsday Report.”

Volume one of the study was a warning that rapid population growth, pollution, and resource depletion would have dramatic consequences for people alive in the year 2000. While the population growth problem now isn’t about too many people but not enough kids to take care of seniors, the pollution and resource depletion problems are even worse than the report predicted.

And like any comprehensive report prepared by a competent government, volume two reviewed the potential for global warming and climate change. I make the “competent government” distinction to compare it to the federal clusterfuck we’ve been dealing with since Reagan. And especially now in February 2025 as a pack of Elmo’s parasites have been loosened into government computers and firing vital personnel on what appears to be whims.

Where the Global 2000 report gets terrifyingly prophetic for me is how it predicted the rise of authoritarian governments. In short, with a growing population producing more pollution and with resources becoming scarce social unrest could cause the authoritarian governments to come to power. I don’t remember if the report made any distinction between the Western world or the non-aligned countries that back in 1980 were in far worse developmental shape than now.

Of course, in 1980 the Soviet Union and the rest of the communist world was still up and running with those countries already running authoritarian to almost totalitarian.

Back when I first read the report I did not even entertain the idea the United States would respond to twenty-first centuries challenges by adopting an authoritarian government. Where it’s more shameful for the United States is that we have the resources to mitigate the worst aspects of climate change, pollution, and resource depletion.

Our flaw, worthy of an ancient Greek tragedy, was our misdirected idea that capitalism was the reason the Soviet-style Communism failed. The American government has never been the beacon of total justice and light white folks like me were indoctrinated to believe from the moment we entered kindergarten. But it was close enough to that ideal that it could evolve and grow. Soviet-communism was no better than Czarist-Russia right from the beginning.

John Steinbeck defined our collective societal failure perfectly when he said: “Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”

Capitalism is America’s Jonestown Kool-Aid and from the moment a child can count to ten their whole existence is geared to making as much money as possible. Yes, exceptions exist in the form of individuals and groups but as a whole, the chief religion of the United States is in fact Capitalism.

And everything went along fine until changes in global economics and advancing technology made 1950s era American capitalism a dying dinosaur. During the late 60’s to the mid-80’s the rich were able to maneuver their wealth to take advantage of the new economic realities while the blue collar types were repeatedly betrayed. They utterly failed to adapt to the new requirements like demanding better education and reigning in the rich. Republican politicians took up the banner or eternal tax cuts and trickle-down economics.

By the 1990s there was a growing discontent in white folks who believe their country and advantages had been snatched from them. They found no other way to explain how their economic situation was staying the same or getting worse.

This is when the rich created a propaganda network designed solely to inflame the growing working poor resentment. From the moment Fox News began broadcasting it never strayed far from blaming all of society’s failings on minorities and the poor. It was the perfect protection for the rich elites, they had a scapegoat and supplied the working poor with a mirage that they too could live their life if all the welfare queens and illegal immigrants were made to work.

In my opinion, this is how we have arrived at our authoritarian present. Trump is just a symptom of a disease that we have largely inflicted on ourselves. Our supposed moral and ethical valves have been sacrificed at the altar of greed and our long held fears and prejudices.

Got to hand it to the now late President Carter, the Global 2000 Report is a masterpiece economic forecasting. I just never believed the United States would fall into that trap.

Side Note: Its been years since I read the entire report and I seem to remember that it speculated this economic and societal dark age would last until the 2040s. I just don’t have the time to dig through it again to confirm.

Side Note 2: Since the Global 2000 Report came out at the very end of the Carter Administration with the press giving it a lot of publicity, Reagan’s people were extra quick to publish their own saying the future was bright and there was nothing to worry about. It only takes a few active brain cells to see that was a lie.

America's Political Chernobyl

 

 Warning: extreme pessimism alert

 Mark Twain once said, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.” I’ve read enough history to be just a little bit dangerous when it comes to expressing an opinion on geopolitical circumstances. But what the Hell, I’m not a megalomaniacal billionaire suffering from a messiah complex nor a dementia-ridden, deviant, traitor conman who loves the uneducated. So I think I can safely express the level of pessimism I feel without causing any damage.

This mindset started yesterday as I began to rewatch the HBO series on the Chernobyl disaster. The book, Midnight at Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham is a much more detailed history of the events surrounding the disaster. But the HBO series, more of human drama, is accurate enough for this post.

American conservatives love to point to the Chernobyl disaster as one of the proofs that all forms of socialism is intrinsically evil. Yes, Marxist-Leninism has killed untold millions of people around the world and caused suffering of even more, but in the case of Chernobyl communism takes on more of an American Corporate mismanagement/mafia-like feel.

The explosion of the Number Four RBMK reactor at Chernobyl was caused by a number of design flaws and operator errors during a late-night safety test. The purpose of this test was to determine how long the reactors turbines could provide power after shutdown. But the operators either disabled or ignored numerous safety protocols.

The actual mechanics of the reactor failure isn’t relevant here but the actions of the operators and the management staff above them are. In simple terms many in the control room initially refused to believe the severity of the situation. And only after the radioactive elephant in the room could not be ignored any further did the mechanisms of the State begin to act. But instead of those involved taking responsibility and moving with all due speed to mitigate the cataclysm, almost everyone in leadership blamed someone else or did their best to lie about the what happened.

Chernobyl was a nightmare from the beginning but as events unfolded it became blindingly clear to the few competent people in the Soviet Union that their entire government was lies and illusions tightly wrapped together around a rotten hollow core.

In actuality, as stated in the book, there were a small group of individuals who heroically worked to get the various bureaucratic agencies moving in the right direction. Chernobyl could have been far worse, there were several post-explosion events that could have literally made huge chunks of eastern and central Europe radioactive wastelands for centuries.

The biggest causality of Chernobyl was ultimately the Soviet government. Its incompetence and lies were eventually fully exposed to both its allies and enemies. Throw in the Soviet Union’s own disastrous Afghanistan involvement and the entire world finally understood it was an empire about to collapse. The invisible Red Menace fell to pieces just a few years later. Somehow its collapse was still a shock to many in governments around the world.

Where the historical rhymes begin in my opinion come from the second Trump Administration that in less than a month in power of this post has literally destroyed the reputation of the United States government around the world.

Where shall I start? First Trump seems to have a Neo-imperialistic agenda with his desire to buy Greenland, annex Canada, attack Mexico, and retake the Panama Canal. And yes, he has not ruled out using military force to achieve these objectives. This point alone reveals a level of stupidity, incompetence and corruption that rivals the worst of the Chernobyl disaster. None of our allies should ever trust a goddamn thing any American president says again. While we may yet survive the Tangerine Hitler- something I highly doubt- and elect a competent president again, there will always be a possibility that another demagogue emerges to undo the previous administration’s actions.

Secondly, the Tangerine Hitler has unleashed the self-proclaimed savior of Western Civilization, Elmo Musk on the inner workings of the United States government. Elmo and his minions are working relentlessly to destroy the inner workings of the United States government like a rabid bull in a tiny China shop.

Third point is his insane tariffs he was about to place on Canada and Mexico. While at the time of this post these tariffs have been delayed after both countries placated the “Art of the Deal” conman with agreements made during the Biden Administration. The result of course is still the same, at any moment Tangerine Hitler could throw a tantrum throwing economic deals in chaos. Shit like that tends to wreck economies.

My fourth point is that the Republican Party control all three branches of the United States government and none have shown any willingness to rein in Trump’s psychotic impulses. And the Democrats? There are a few working as a resistance, but the party leaders have been AWOL since the election. The Soviet Union of course was filled to the brim with party hacks that acted more like sheep than leaders.

My last point is Trump’s choices for his cabinet. The level of incompetence and fanatical devotion to his cult of personality is outright terrifying. Cash Patel, Pam Bodi, the degenerate individual from a morning Fox News show he picked to run the DoD, and the brainworm RFK jr. are all examples of a Chernobyl-level nightmare waiting the right moment to happen.

The sad fact many suffering from delusions of American Exceptionalism fail to understand is that no nation is eternal. Especially when a nation’s leaders and the government they control are nothing but lies and illusions wrapped around a rotten core. When the truth about a nation’s failings and lack of ability to reform become obvious, that government is almost doomed to fall.

I honestly feel Trump could end the United States as a political entity. Given his actions in just the short time he’s been in office to ignore that possibility could bite us all in the ass.

Morally Lost And Ethically Unredeemable

 

Depending on who you talk with the question of when the last milligram of competence and ethical behavior died in our elected officials will get you a multitude of answers. Of course, to a certain degree the elected officials in this country have never shown any consist level of competence and ethics. Simple put politics is a disgusting but necessary endeavor to have a functioning society. The absence of organized politics is not some libertarian utopia but a survival of the fittest anarchical nightmare.

But in countries where there is at least a semi-commitment to the rule of law and the idea that at some hazy point certain political actions exceed even the most tenuous rationalizations you would expect elected officials to show some absolute values. I mean the majority of elected federal officials in this country proudly profess to possess some belief in the teaching of Jesus Christ. Along with the ideas enshrined in the United States Constitution of human rights and that no individual is above the law.

So just for shits and giggles I’ll concede that federal elected officials have shown a moderate level of dignified actions and proper behavior since the ratification of the United States Constitution. Yes, that assumption is greatly flawed, but work with me here. The unavoidable truth is that all human culture and morals are fictional constructs that vary to the whims of people living at any given moment.

That became glaringly obvious for me yesterday. And even though all my illusions about American Democracy have long since been damaged beyond repair, the responses I got from my US congressman and senators show a level of moral and ethical abandonment that is staggering to me.

It all began with the news that the Tangerine Hitler (“TH” for short) was going to take over the Gaza Strip after Israel concluded the war with Hamas. TH’s plans had for the entire Palestinian population being evacuated from Gaza and be permanently relocated to other nearby countries. In other words ethnic cleansing, the crime against humanity one small step below organized genocide.

Understand, I have mixed feelings about the whole Israeli/Palestinian conflict. That insane bloodbath has been centuries in the making involving both the Western and Arab world. One huge clusterfuck with no true good or bad guy above the individual level. The victims though are millions of human beings who only want to raise their children in peace. If there is any one example of the savage and short-sighted nature of our species it is that conflict.

Given the intransigence of all those involved I often think the best course of action would be to close off the region and let them fight it out. That of course is out of the question. There are good people and innocent children who continue to be victims of religious hate and basic greed.

When I learned of TH’s plans for Gaza, I felt moved to call my duly elected federal representatives. The result of my efforts to talke with them has me entertaining the idea that our government is nonredeemable.

My first call was to my congressman, a person who in a better, wiser world would have never been allowed to rise above the average county councilman. To say he is a swarmy little weasel would be an insult to the Mustelidae family which includes badgers, otters, and wolverines.

Of course I only reached the unlucky dude tasked with manning the phones. I asked this guy what was Congressman Weasel's views on TH’s plans for the Gaza Strip. I further mentions that forcing all the Palestinians out of Gaza was ethnic cleansing, something that the modern US government takes a dim view of. I outright said that ethnic cleansing was unqualified evil.

The aide on the other end of the phone could only say that the congressman had no position on the question of the Palestinian population being forcibly removed from the land. This person was nice, and seemed interested in hearing my views but gave no clue if he understood my outrage. It was like engaging with an AI.

You would think the question of ethnic cleansing would be something that wouldn’t need an official position. This story takes an even more disgusting turn just minutes after I hung up.

Surfing on YouTube I found a video of my congressman on the floor of the House losing his shit over the news that Russian television was showing naked pictures of the current First Lady. It was just another episode of the bizarre and improbable nature of our current politics. Rage over the wildly accessible erotic photographs of Melania Trump but nothing on TH’s wanting to commit a crime against humanity.

I called my senators after that. All I got from both was a recorded message saying that their voice mail was full. A little research later I found out their voice mails have been full for days.

That folks is the current condition of the United States. TH won the popular vote this time and in less than a month the United States has alienated our long-time allies. Openly states that he wants to take back the Panama Canal, “buy” Greenland, and force Canada to become a state. All batshit insane actions, but they pale with the reason TH wants Gaza.

He and his son-in-law are eyeing the “property” as undeveloped beachfront land where they can build resorts, condos, and of course golf courses.

The US government has never been a beacon of fully honest government overflowing with integrity but this unforgivable.

The Birthday Incident- A True Story

 

When your kids are small alone time for married parents is rare. When there is another small kid involved the rarity increases exponentially. So when my daughter received an invitation to her best friend’s sleepover/birthday party my wife and I realized that we were going to have a Friday night to ourselves. Because our son had been invited to spend the weekend with his best friend a few days before.

I got home Friday afternoon and my daughter, Amanda, was in her room packing her overnight bag. She was positively giddy, Kelli, her best friend had just moved into a new house after her mom remarried. My daughter had already visited the house and said Kelli’s room was amazing. She also said something about a pool and one of those fancy adventure play sets in the backyard.

Kelli and Amanda had been friends since they were babies in daycare. And my wife and I were quite comfortable with her staying with either Kelli’s mom or dad. They had divorced a couple of years before but remained friendly enough to raise a well adjusted and bright kid.

When the time came for me to take Amanda to Kelli’s house, my daughter raced to the car and had an impatient look on her face when a few moments later as I walked into the garage. She was ready to see her best friend and to be honest, I was looking forward to having some alone time with my wife. 

The one element I failed to take into consideration was that Kelli’s new step-father brought his own two daughters to the marriage he had with her mom. I didn’t see how it could have been an issue, Kelli’s mom had always treated Amanda as one of her own and I didn’t see any reason it would change. That was a bad assumption.

As I pulled onto Kelli’s new street it was easy to see which house was hers. At least a couple of dozen balloons were tied to various points on the house and bushes. Above the front door was a colorful banner saying “Birthday Girl.”

I knew there would naturally be other girls at the party but I was surprised to see the number of cars parked along the curb. It was clearly going to be a huge party and I figured kids associated with Kelli’s new stepdad were attending besides his own two daughters. 

After driving down the street to find a parking spot, I escorted my daughter up to the front door. Amanda and I were behind two other groups of parents and kids who were being greeted by Kelli’s mom as they entered. 

Lisa, Kelli’s mom, warmly welcomed the people ahead of us. Lisa was all smiles and clearly enjoying the people who were attending Kelli’s birthday. I figured she was also riding the newlywed happiness train since she and her new husband had only been married for a couple of months.

As soon as Amanda and I stepped up to the porch it all changed. Lisa’s smile and demeanor did a complete turnaround and being a caring dad my instinct was to grab my daughter and leave.

“Oh, you're here,” Lisa said in a disappointed tone that spoke volumes to me. Given the overflowing crowd it was easy for me to imagine that my daughter’s invitation had only been a courtesy. That whatever affection Lisa might have felt for my daughter had been superseded by all the additions to her family. Namely Lisa’s two new stepdaughters who were close to the same age as Kelli.

You have to understand that in my own experience it’s always safest to assume the worst in people.

The urge to grab Amanda and haul ass was overwhelming but my daughter saw her friend and was through the door before I could stop her. Lisa looked up at me with an expression I couldn’t read but I figured it was her doing the mental calculation on whether turning us away would be worth the scene it would create.

At the same time I was doing my own mental calculations on whether I could step inside, grab my daughter and get her out of a place where it was obvious she wasn’t really welcome. Glancing past Lisa, I couldn’t see my daughter anymore and figured Kelli was taking Amanda to her room.  And while I knew Lisa wanted to avoid a scene, any action by me would have been viewed much worse. 

“She’ll be fine,” Lisa said to me suddenly in a tone of resigned acceptance. She then turned away and shut the door. My wife was naturally far closer with Lisa but I had always thought she and I were on good terms. But as I walked away I hated that woman more than anyone else I had ever encountered.

After returning home I told my wife about what happened and she immediately figured I had misread the situation. Of course, that was always a possibility but even now, years later, I’m certain my assessment was correct. I’ll go as far and say Kelli more than likely wanted Amanda at her party but her mom only sent the invitation to satisfy her daughter. I can imagine there’s even a chance that Lisa insinuated to my wife during one of their talks about wanting only family at the party but she missed the hints. Yes, it has happened before. 

Naturally the rest of that night was not the happy and relaxing occasion I hoped for. I even tried to get my wife to call Lisa and say that something had come up and we needed Amanda back home. 

By Saturday afternoon, Kelli’s party moved from her new house to her real dad’s parent’s house. It was out in the boondocks and since this was before Google, took me forever to find. The house was a full-fledged Mcmansion and while my attitude was already bad it only got worse. I have little to no respect for Mcmansions but this one was a monument to gross excesses. 

The foyer was as big as a normal bedroom, complete with decorative eight-foot high molding and the ceiling itself around ten feet high. The living room, filled with high class furniture, was cordoned off with museum-grade felt covered belt barriers. And once again it had ten-foot ceilings with the same molding as the foyer. Kelli’s grandparents had at least had small statues sitting on top of the molding making some use of the totally wasted space. 

The kitchen was of course restaurant huge with commercial appliances and a massive countertop island in the middle. And the first floor bathroom, it was bigger than the master bedroom at my house and boasted two tubs and a spacious shower with a bench for two.

Yeah, there’s no sin being successful but I found the house grossly overindulgent.

I eventually found my way to the backyard and saw my daughter in the pool. She was playing in the water by herself while Kelli was playing with six other kids ignoring her. These kids turned out to be her new step-sisters and step-cousins. I learned this from Kelli’s real dad, a guy named Brad, who I noticed was doing his best to avoid looking directly at his ex-wife and her new husband. They were over by the massive gas grill watching the hot dogs and hamburgers cook while doing their best  

Brad must have seen my face as I watched my daughter attempt to interact with her friend but be generally ignored. “Yeah, I almost called you this morning.” He said while sipping a bottle of beer. 

“What do you mean?” I said, anticipating I wouldn’t like the news.

“I noticed Amanda was being left out when they arrived here this morning. And I haven’t seen Kelli spend any time with her.” Brad smiled, and said matter of factly like he was speaking about some minor observation. “Kelli has become quite enamored with the kids in her step-dad’s family and it wouldn’t surprise me if she didn’t spend much time with Amanda at the sleepover.”

Here’s where I truly got pissed. While Brad and I were not buddies I considered us friendly enough that he should have called me once he noticed Amanda was being excluded. Just goddamn common courtesy because I’m sure as Hell I wouldn’t have wanted his daughter to be left alone while Amanda played with new friends.

I was done with Lisa and her new family and Brad. I didn’t give a damn anymore if I caused a scene. I walked away from Brad and over to the side of the pool my daughter was playing. The second Amanda saw me she was out of the pool running towards me. After we hugged, I asked her if she wanted to go home and I got a slight nod. Yes, she was very upset but either hadn’t said anything or was ignored.

One of the worst sins you can commit here in the South, and particularly with my wife, is to be seen as ungracious. Custom demands all guests in someone’s home must say goodbye and thank you to the host. And even lie saying you had a remarkably good time and hoped we could get together again.

That’s the way I was raised and while given my size and general demeanor you wouldn’t think I gave a damn about polite society. But I was raised to be polite and it took all my willpower to walk out of there with my daughter without following the usual custom. At least I didn’t cut back through the house on the way out but used the backyard gate leaving it open. A small act of defiance I wish had been more.

Apparently not speaking and leaving through the gate- they had a couple of small dogs in the backyard- had been noticed and Lisa called my wife while I was heading home. Normally my wife would have thought I overreacted but Amanda broke down crying when we got home explaining she had been alone from the moment she was in the house. That was enough to piss my wife off, who called Lisa back and cussed her out like I wanted to earlier. 

Lisa and Brad on separate occasions called asking if Amanda would come over and play with Kelli. The one time I answered when Lisa called the second I recognised her voice I said: “Oh it's you,” in the same disappointed tone she did to me and my daughter the night I dropped her off for the sleepover.

Yeah, I’m a petty bastard but it felt goddamn great.