Swept Into, 5th Day of Fall, 525 M.E. (Betelgeuse): For the record, Dog Days End was originally the fifth day of Fall in the Universal Solar Calendar and Swept Into was the 73rd and last day of Summer. But in my New Revised USC, I switched the two dates, "Dog Days End" sounding more apt to me for the last day of Summer than the fifth of Fall.

It would have been ironic, as it turns out, if today were Dog Days End, as the cool, comfortable weather of the past week to 10 days has passed. I got my walk in today, a Jackson, but it was cut a couple miles short by the imminent threat of rain. The day was hot (85°) and humid (76%), with a dew point of 74°. I was soaked with sweat by the time I got back home and had to drink a half liter of water and take a 10-minute power nap to recuperate.

Today, the Stable Genius, surrounded on stage by a corps of his most sycophantic cabinet members, ordered the national guard to Washington DC and seized control of the city’s police force. By invoking martial law in the nation's capitol, the Stable Genius takes us one step closer to total authoritarianism. 

In a rambling, hour-plus press conference, he claimed the city had been overtaken by "violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs, and homeless people.”  Those words echoed the "roving bands of wild criminals" description he used back in 1989 to describe the Central Park Five.  

He is obviously deranged, possibly by syphilis-induced dementia. He seems incapable of coming up with new thoughts or any ideas formed after Y2K, if not the 1980s. He claimed he was rescuing DC "from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor and worse" and imagined underage criminals spitting in the face of the police. "You spit, and we hit, and they hit real hard,” he said, echoing the unhelpful remarks he made during the 2020 George Floyd riots ("when the looting starts, the shooting starts") and encouraging police brutality. 

Echoing comments from his 2024 campaign about what we would allow Putin to do in Europe, he vowed to allow the police to “do whatever the hell they want.” 

Oh, how he rambled! He described DC as “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world,” claiming its murder rate is higher than Bogotá or Mexico City, even though violent crime is actually at a 30-year low. He talked about his upcoming meeting with Putin "in Russia" (when it's actually scheduled to take place in Alaska). He talked about his plans to install a tacky, Versailles-styled ballroom in the White House. 

Regarding the press conference, Al Sharpton said the Stable Genius “was inspired to take this disgusting, dangerous, and derogatory action solely out of self interest. Let’s call the inspiration for this assault on a majority Black city for what it is: another bid to distract his angry, frustrated base over his administration’s handling of the Epstein files.”