From Orbit to Earth: Tyranny, Resilience, and the Fight for Visibility

In Orbital, by Samantha Harvey, astronauts orbiting the planet could think that no negligible thing could shine so bright as the Earth. In time, we come to see that we are on the sidelines of a universe of sidelines, without center, just a giddy mass of waltzing things. “Maybe it’s hard to shift from thinking your planet is safe at the centre of all to knowing in fact it’s a planet of normalish size and normalish mass rotating about an average star in a solar system of average everything in a galaxy of innumerably many, and the whole things is going to explode or collapse.”

The house of one particular fisherman facing a typhoon is made out of tin, cardboard, hardboard, and sticks. He looks at his phone, expecting a message from his astronaut friend telling him to leave, arranging a flight if need be. He remembers his friend diving off his fishing boat twenty-five meters down for 15 minutes on his honeymoon to recover a $10 knife the fisherman had dropped overboard and had gotten wedged between rocks.

Immense solar flares send protons earthwards. The astronauts are cocooned by their shields and the Earth’s magnetic fields from the sun’s fury. Leeside from the fury, it’s early evening. It is difficult to compute that they will have burn and roll in a blazing ball through the thin whispering line of the atmosphere. To starboard the view is only of the snow-covered Himalayas, seemingly ignorant to mankind, leading ever south. By mid-morning, coming in to Russia, the Earth’s smooth surface seems to have nothing on its flawless surface that can break.

In the news, the University of Utah is losing federal funds to study health disparities in Utah. Marginalized communities are at a noticeable higher risk, given communities like West Valley City, which is the majority minority community in the state, have a expected lifespan of ten years less than the rest of the state, even though the community is only 30 minutes from the University of Utah Hospital (a new hospital is planned for construction in the city). Given that West Valley City is the second largest city in the state, this is a huge disparity. Nevertheless, the Trump administration has cut the funds as part of its anti-DEI initiative (as if somehow researching racism and disparities is somehow racist). It claims that it only wants to support “evidence-based science,” in other words only research designed to support their own confirmation-bias.

Furthermore, nothing says much about Trump’s disregard for facts as blatantly displaying his ignorance of the fact that scientific procedure is how evidence is collected in the first place. Based on evidence, and there’s plenty of it, a theory is postulated, an experiment is done, and more evidence is collected to either support or disprove the theory. Trump is in effect thumbing his nose at underserved communities, not wishing to see the blunt hard truths of why so many people living on the edges are dying faster than anyone else. Whether he sees himself as racist or not, this decision is clearly racist, especially in its application and its outcome.

In Hammajang Luck, by Makana Yamamoto, Angel tells everyone that the next part of the plan is gaining access. Standing at the front of the room, she states that after granting access to Malia, it’s a matter of getting into the financial records, the R&D systems and Atlas’s personal files.

In Court of the Vampire Queen, by Katee Robert, the Mina tells Malachi that she is capable of washing herself. Malachi tells her to hush. Affronted, she tells him he hushed her. She has been under the impression that the remaining four Bloodlines were scattered to the winds.

Wolf tells Malachi to keep his power locked down. The feeling that Malachi is savoring every little taste her of only makes it hotter for Mina. She finds herself so close to an orgasm.

Mina has to become her father’s heir. She’s not so sure she can conceive quickly. Malachi tells her that it will work out.

On the national stage, Trump is continuing to bumble international diplomacy through his bombastic behavior. A lot of people are out of work, and with tariffs set to go in place, inflation is going to hit. The first place it’s going to hit is the steel and automobile industry, and then it’s going to ripple out from there. I listened to a pundit say that only rich people buy foreign cars, so it won’t hurt the middle class. That’s blatantly false, for several reasons.

With the continued violence and threats against oil producing companies, the oil resources are going into war machines. As a result the price of oil and it’s byproducts, like gasoline, will go up in price. Non-hybrid vehicles, as a result, will be more costly to operate, because demand will outweigh supply, causing prices to hike.

Retail prices may hold steady a bit at first, because the demand of goods, other than groceries, are going down due to a lower employment. So retail non-essentials price value will go down, but the cost of goods will go up, because freight costs, being hit by both fuel rates going up and the cost of replacing equipment to ship those goods, will go up as well. A lot of Americans that buy foreign cars buy models like Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota, because they feel the quality is at a purchase price they can afford, and they trust the energy efficiency built in more so than that of the American counterparts.

New construction and rebuilds will also go up in price, meaning corporations that need new space will be affected by the price, and home prices will go up. Also, with less people able to afford those homes, it will drive rent prices up as more people try to crowd into a limited number of rental units. So in a nutshell, the cost of goods, including food, as well as the cost of transportation and housing will see a spike. Prices can’t remain low without more corporations going out of business and more people living in poverty.

To combat this, cities need to invest in public transportation, public housing, and food banks. However, cities get their funds from sales tax. With businesses unable to make a profit, there will be no money to invest; unless the cities take out bonds, which requires a vote of the community to raise their taxes when they are already struggling. No one individual should have that much control over another person’s life. This is one of the main principles of democracy. When one individual or a narrow minority has such deep control over other people’s lives without their voice and their vote on any issue, that is the definition of tyranny. A president presides, which means they ensure the organization follows its rules to make the decisions using a deliberative process. While he may hold the title, Donald Trump is not a president—he is a tyrant.

This last Saturday I missed the unveiling of Utah’s 200 foot transgender flag and the celebrations at the state capital. I totally would have been there if I had heard about it. Instead, I am celebrating after the fact. I understand the attendance was a blowout. I wish I could have been there. Governor Cox let the bill targeting pride flags go into law without his signature. The reactions are intense. This may have impacted Sundance's decision that it would no longer have its film festival in Utah, and is moving it to Colorado. While Sundance has become incredibly inclusive, the Utah legislature has been moving the state in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, more and more people are vowing to be civilly disobedient and publicly demonstrate their support for LGBTQ+ rights, flags and all.

A coalition of organizations, including the ACLU of Utah held a Transgender Day of Visibility festival at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley City. We have had a generation of trans gender people growing up in this state with no closet, and our older trans folk have been out so long they have no intention of going back in. We have been living our lives, accepted by the bulk of our community, valued by our friends and neighbors, and share a sense of belonging. The radicals in the Utah Legislature want to drive us back into our closets. I have a message for them: “Honey there are no more closets. We’re still here, we’re still queer, and it’s about time to get used to it.”