Lusting in the Heart vs. The Cult of Personality

The conservative right in this country has officially gone completely to the dark side, abandoning even the pretense of the traditional family values they spent decades preaching. It did not happen overnight, but the evolution from self-righteous moral police to absolute, shameless hypocrisy is undeniable. To understand exactly how deep this rot goes, you only have to look at three specific moments in modern political history that show when and how it all happened.

A Richer Kind of Time - A Poem

When you are slowly dying

You spend a lot of time

Thinking about quality.

Quality of life

Of medical care

Of relationships.

Quality of your time.

You try to fill your days

With constructive

And positive

And useful things to do

You concentrate on the good

And try like hell

To fix the bad

And push it away

When you can't.

And it's okay

To cry

When your life clock

Stands at 3 minutes

To midnight

And you don't want to go yet.

Me, I don't fear it

I also don't seek it

I know it's coming

And I realized

It could happen tomorrow

In a car wreck

Or a Walmart shooter's spree

Or I could defy

My multiple diagnoses

And live another 25 years.

Nobody knows for sure

When the Reaper

Decides to show up.

So I live for the day,

I make them count

I love on my family

I love on my friends

My dogs

And really most importantly

I love on myself.

I am not living

On borrowed time

I merely live

On shortened time.

And when 

You make it good

That is enough.

Copyright Jennifer Thomas, 2026

Rules for Thee, Freedom for Me: The Deep Hypocrisy of the Modern Right

There is a distinct psychological mechanism running the modern American hard right, and it is a textbook case of psychological projection. The formula is as predictable as it is shameless: whatever structural corruption, ethical rot, or lawless behavior ultra-conservative leaders are actively committing—or planning to commit—they immediately accuse their political opponents of doing first. It creates a chaotic smoke screen, ensuring that by the time their own scandals come to light, the public is too exhausted by the non-stop noise to notice. But when you strip away the flags, the slogans, and the manufactured outrage, the reality becomes undeniable. The MAGA movement has systemically transformed the very grievances they spent a decade fundraising on into their actual policy blueprint.

Welcome to Trumpland USA

If there were a chance it would be published, I would send this letter to the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the WaPo, and every other major paper. But it would not be published.

To the Editor,

I am looking at the absolute state of this country, and I want to know when the hell people are going to wake up to what that orange fool is doing in the White House. This lunatic is literally building a bunker inside the fucking ballroom, and the spineless bastards around him are just letting it happen. 

Mean Girls, You've Got To Be Kind!

I was at Walmart one day and there was a guy sitting on a bench at the front near the registers. He was very obviously profoundly developmentally disabled, completely in his own world, and just having an absolute blast. I can't remember exactly what he was doing, but he was making a fair bit of noise, maybe listening to music because he was singing and chair dancing right there. 

Then these three teenage girls walked by. They were about 16, really pretty, fashionably dressed, the total cheerleader popular mean girl types. They noticed him and immediately started laughing and pointing, mimicking him and just being incredibly mean about it. 

The Windy City and Me

The roots of Chicago stay with you, no matter how many miles or years pile up. For me, that footprint started when I was eleven years old, living for four unforgettable months on South Kedzie Avenue with my Gramma Mary. Down on the Southwest Side, near Gage Park and Chicago Lawn, the city had a distinct, working-class grit. At eleven, that stretch of Kedzie was my entire universe. It was a world of brick two-flats, corner stores, and the constant, lively hum of the neighborhood. It was an eye-opening introduction to the real heart of the city. 

Years later, I returned to Chicago as an adult, but this time, the city showed us a completely different side of its character. 

Root and Branch: A Union of Faith and Tradition

According to Judaism, non-Jews are expected to follow the Seven Laws of Noah (often called the Noahide Laws).

Jewish tradition teaches that these are ancient, universal moral commandments given by God to Noah and his family after the flood, making them binding for all of humanity.

Here is the list of the seven laws:

1) Do not worship idols: Believe in the one true God and do not pray to statues or false deities. (When I'm in a belief phase, I am a Catholic. I do not PRAY to statues, but I DO talk to them. And even as an atheist I talk to my statue of the Blessed Virgin Mother.)

2) Do not blaspheme: Do not curse God or use His name profanely. (I am working on that because a few of my friends absolutely wince when I say God Damn It.)

3) Do not commit murder: Respect the value of human life. (And any rabbi will tell you: The most important thing to know about Jewish law is that a fetus is not considered a full legal person until the moment of birth. Because of this, Jewish law actually mandates abortion if the pregnancy poses a threat to your physical or mental life. The life of the person carrying the pregnancy always takes absolute priority. So abortion is not murder.)

4) Do not commit sexual immorality: Practice moral sexual behavior, which traditionally prohibits acts like adultery and incest. (I would say that it's not adultery if everybody involved consents to such things as polyamory or even swinging, only when it's secret and sly.)

5) Do not steal: Do not take what belongs to others, whether through theft, fraud, or kidnapping. (This one really needs no commentary!)

6) Do not eat meat torn from a living animal: Practice humanity toward animals, which means not causing them unnecessary cruelty or eating flesh taken from an animal while it is still alive. (I like this one, because it teaches to be kind with creatures.)

7) Establish courts of justice: Set up a fair legal system and government to enforce these laws and ensure a just society. (Wish this one worked these days, but holy COW are SCOTUS and other courts a disaster. They've all been packed by the Orange Atrocity and are destroying the Constitution.)

In my opinion these are the most sensible rules I've ever heard, though I'm not sure about the God stuff, since I'm in a non-believing phase in my life. However, I am starting to lean back toward Catholicism. 

I make this promise now:

If I DO end up in a belief phase again (my faith flows and ebbs, and I just ride with it) I swear, will not shove Jesus down your throats. I will occasionally mention things like if I ever get confirmed or if I make a rosary or have a profound thought. But I won't do daily religion.

A Catholic who follows Jewish Law for Gentiles. Interesting. And reasonable. There is room for both. 

Timothy Busfield and Being A Predator

This may or may not be an unpopular opinion.

But I believed Timothy Busfield at first. I don't know why, I just did.

Then more and more allegations came out. And we all know predation is a pattern of behavior, it's not generally a one-time thing, and he is KNOWN to have settled at least one accusation case for an undisclosed amount.

The only weird thing is that the other accusers were all women, all close to or over than 18. These new ones are twin boys, who were apparently age seven at the beginning. 

I am not going to convict anybody without hearing all the evidence, but it sure doesn't look good.

I feel awful for his poor heartbroken wife.  But if the evidence proves he did it, he needs to go to prison.

Pocket-Sized Masterpieces: The Joy of ATCs

There is a quiet magic in creating something beautiful with your own two hands, but there is an even greater joy in sending that piece of your heart out into the world to make a brand-new friend. This is the beautiful essence of Artist Trading Cards. These miniature works of art, affectionately called ATCs, carry a delightful tradition where the only strict rule is their size; every single card must be exactly 2 ½ by 3 ½ inches, which is the precise size of a standard baseball card.

Within those tiny dimensions, the creative possibilities are absolutely endless. You can use any medium your heart desires, whether that means drawing intricate patterns with white gel pens on dark paper, blending watercolors, or layering bits of vintage paper and ephemera for a beautiful collage. Because they are so small, there is no pressure to create a massive masterpiece; instead, you get to experiment with colors and textures, making each little card a unique expression of your imagination.

Finding My Lines: How a Week of Drawing Made Me Feel Alive

The dolphin on left was drawn on my first day, last Monday. The one on right was drawn on my sixth day. Daily practice is wonderful.

It is a weird, awesome feeling when your hands finally start catching up with your brain. At the beginning of the week, every time I put pen to paper, the lines came out looking completely gimpy. I'd have a perfect image in my head, but what actually ended up on the page looked shaky, lopsided, and just totally off.