The Sleep is on me today. I didn't rest well last night, & all day I've been sluggish & dragging. Didn't do much besides sleep today, actually. I'm a little tired & run down from the week, & sleeping was more disinterest in dealing with the rest of the world than anything else.
Did get some reading done, though. Been reading The Bones Of Avalon by Phil Rickman. It takes place during the reign of Elizabeth The First & is about Dr. John Dee searching for the remains of King Arthur because British royalty was all about that. It's a pretty hefty book & I'm not sure where it's going - just now we've had what looks like a ritualistic killing & some old pre-Christian magic - but I've always been fascinated with Dr. Dee. This is showing us as a young man, but frankly, he always struck me as a bit credulous. Anyhow, it's enjoyable.
Spent most of yesterday evening getting closer to the endgame of Freelancer 2 & getting re-familiar with Rebel Galaxy in anticipation of it's prequel Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, which drops Tuesday. While RBO will be a cockpit space shooter, a la Wing Commander, RB was more like Freelancer, a third-person deal but with battleships rather than individual ships. What set it apart was it's awesome soundtrack & its "space western" aesthetic. Rebel Galaxy isn't really deep but it's loads of fun. It can be found on Steam or GOG.com, but Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is only available at the Epic store. Haven't decided if I'll buy it when it comes out or if I'll wait a couple days. For the most part, early reviews are pretty positive. We'll see. I've been waiting for this game for a while.
Some more stuff has come out about the ICE stormtroopers kidnapping almost 700 workers in Mississippi chicken plants. Like we said, this raid came just after owners Koch Foods settled a $3 million suit which found them liable against charges of worker abuse & sexual harassment. It's been suggested that the raid was predicated on those lawsuits, as not only is the owner Joseph Grendys a big Trump supporter but that he was looking for a way to shed troublesome staff. Remember, Koch Foods had a job fair because they suddenly were short on labor.
Okay. Well. I'm put it off long enough but we might as well address the turd in today's punch bowl. As you've probably heard, financier & sexual predator Jeffery Epstein was found dead in his jail cell this morning. Right now, it's being called a suicide - that he hung himself - & it happened a day after the release of court documents that apparently should've put the fear in a lot of rich, powerful men. Among those named in the documents were former New Mexico governor & Democratic president nominee Bill Richardson & Maine Senator George Mitchell, as well as a number of financiers & businessmen.
Because you can't prosecute a dead man, all the criminal charges are done for. However, civil prosecution can go on, & since there's no one to block investigations, they can look into his other properties & charge individuals who might've been involved, including Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend who's been accused of being his "right hand" in procuring underage girls for him & other filthy rich shitasses to rape.
Now. This happened about 6 a.m. Eastern this morning, & Twitter has been on fire with speculation & accusations. There are credible ties to both Trump & Bill Clinton, so of course, partisans & cultists have been accusing each side of whacking the douchebag. In fact, the president retweeted some dingbat's conspiracy theory that this had something to do with the long debunked Clinton Body Count. There has been shock that the President Of The United States would retweet, tacitly supporting such an unfounded & outrageous rumor, but forget that the asshole entered the political world by back the racist Birther theory & has never once apologized for it.
My quick thoughts: the guy knew he was about to go to prison & knew child rapists are what hardened murders in prison consider the scummiest of the scum, so he bowed out. If either Trump or Clinton were going to have the guy put down, they would have done it long before this case began, probably after he slipped the noose in 2008. I'm a big fan of Occam's razor & don't go looking for complications when the banality of evil exists. I hate most that the victims of Epstein's bullshit won't see justice & hope the law nails anyone who needs nailing to the wall. But we'll have to wait & see.
I do need to take a break from this. I've said that for the last four days, yet every day, here I am, pounding out gibberish & conjecture & thinking I'm accomplishing something. Hell, too bad blogging's not a Thing anymore; maybe I should figure out how to get that Patreon thing working for me. I never have been good at that, though. I lack the charisma & personality to have someone actually want to pay me for what I think; I've always been more of a pack-mule journalist/writer. Ah, well. Enough of this.
