You can't be forever blessed.

The incomparable Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer, expressing with one withering look what I feel about this government and the havoc it has wreaked.

Every day, another seeming point of no return.

This one? Renee Nicole Good, shot three times and killed by an ICE henchman. Her last words? "I'm not mad at you," as she drove off to get out of the way. Not to try to run the guy over. His first words after killing her? "Fucking bitch."

In case there was any question as to whether there was malicious intent.

The going thought is that he shot her because she was expressing, in a very non-malicious manner, that she was not under his power. And that threatened him. He needed to have a woman under his power. And when he could not command that with his words and with his uniform and with his cowardly-masked face, he had to command that with his gun.

Now it's become apparent. That could now be any of us. These guys have the support of the criminal in chief, the terrible occupant of the White House, and his cabinet. And they will not be persecuted for murdering citizens innocently going about their daily lives.

Ya know, I remember walking down the street on September 11, 2001. Fourteen years and four months ago today. I was walking down NW 21st Street in Portland, heading from my small studio to my friend's apartment a few blocks away. The towers had been struck and had fallen. And I trudged down, feeling physically like I had been sucker punched. People around me largely looked normal, as if nothing had happened, but it was like we were all in on a terrible secret, and with one word, we would spill our guts in hopes of relief or catharsis. Maybe this was all a bad nightmare. Maybe we would all wake up from it.

Every day feels like this to some extent nowadays, unless I can escape from the thought of it, which I can from time to time. Every damned day.

I wrote years ago about how we'd gone a long way from Paul Simon intoning "Still, when I think of the road we're traveling on, I wonder what's gone wrong" to Hard Harry's "Do you ever get the feeling that everything in America is completely fucked up?" As it turns out, another image from "American Tune" comes to mind. "High up above, my eyes could clearly see the Statue of Liberty sailing away to sea." One of the biggest symbols of this once-great country of ours, now heading toward the horizon. It doesn't feel like there's even an America anymore to be fucked up. We're not united, that's for sure. There's a reason I'm making moves toward California from Colorado, and it's not just because Dennis needs a place to live that's better for his pain and health.

At any rate, more later. Definitely more later. There's a lot to be expressed.