Don’t be worried or afraid, I am just expressing the thoughts in my head

I went out shopping early this morning.  Then I came home and after putting the stuff away I did all the dishes.  It was not a lot but three days worth and last night I cooked a good meal.  I am washing all the bed linens and all the towels in the chairs / places that Tupac lays on.  So as I try to do they cartoon  / meme post for tomorrow …. My mind is fractured.   So these songs are in my mind.  Sorry if this hurts anyone.  Also remember I am not in danger of self-harm.  I won’t do that to all of you who I respect so much. Hugs or best wishes to all as you appreciate the gesture.   The songs below are shattering my thoughts.   I walk alone, and I wish for the sound of silence.  Oh, to have the thoughts in my mind stop! I desperately wish for it. I have not eaten yet today, nor did I after breakfast yesterday and Ron has called me 3 times asking me to eat.  Even telling me to order something if it is more pleasing to me.  I just can’t.  I bought salad stuff today so maybe a salad later.  I am so confused. I had four more ready to post and suddenly realized it was useless.   Is my life useless?  I do good things.  My husband loves me.  His cat sleeps pressed up against me at night, yet even last night as I struggled to sleep and he moved up onto my pillow I took no comfort from him.  I am feeling so numb inside when I let myself feel anything at all because the government is forcing my pain doctors to reduce my medications despite the new MRI showing severe and increased damage to my spine.  My doctors say it my be necessary for me to do surgery to get relief because RFK Jr. has determined that all pain clinics lower their clients morphine equviancy to less than 100.  Those who do not feel chronic pain or live in long pain because they dont hve to suffer … well illegal drugs all of a sudden get a hollier than though about drugs.  Seriously, this former drug adic is restricting needed medication from people like me with seriously damaged spines and no contributions to his campaigns.   But drugs from a qualified pain doctor can mean the difference between living a quality life and suffering in even more agony. Hugs

I am sorry.  I do not not want to worry anyone or cause fear.  But I feel so… out of sync with the world.  I just hurt.  It is part physical and a lot emotional.   The MRI  I had just had showed many parts of my lower spine are showing far more damage than my doctors had thought.   They thought I had a few more years before surgery. I cannot afford surgery.   The MRI moved many of my lower vertebrae from the moderate to severe to extremely severe zone.  One the report said was in civilian terms destroyed.  The bone matrrial decaded, the inside soft stuff pushed out and the nerves were caught by the edges of the jagged edges of the bones both being forced out and being pinched and being pinced inside as I moved.  It is why I cannot sit in my chair very long.  Ron is going to get me an air seat when he gets home but I doubt it will help. I am sitting here thinking of why when my spine shows ever more damage the government is requiring that my pain doctors reduce everyone’s pain medications.  Just because the former coke addict RFK Jr dosent feel the crippling pain that people like me do doesn’t mean he gets to stop our pain medication or at least shouldn’t.  All that does is force us on to illegal drugs to get relief.  I wonder if that is the point all along.  Think of it, all the  friends in pain suddenly not able to vote would change the election in plenty of ways.  Hugs

Sorry, but I keep repeating the songs over and over.  Hugs

Every body hurts.  But today I hurt terribly. Sorry.   Now I have to go struggle to make the bed because I washed the bed sheets.  More pain. Hugs

Update-It’s Tonight! TV Alert For Black History

Start TV to premiere award-winning documentary, ”Who in the Hell is Regina Jones?” in February

By: Start TV Staff Posted: January 14, 2026, 1:17PM 

Start TV is set to premiere the award-winning documentary, Who in the Hell is Regina Jones?, on Monday, February 16 at 8P | 7C with a special encore immediately after at 10P | 9C.

The stellar production from Weigel Productions Corp. shines a light on legendary journalist Regina Jones. The documentary, which won the Outstanding Documentary Feature Award at the Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival, turns a lens on Jones’ historical journey – the invisible labor, turmoil, struggle, and joy of a modern-day Black woman, who emerged as publisher and founder of the groundbreaking SOUL newspaper. On this nationwide platform, Black artists could get coverage long before other publications entered the arena.

Pregnant and married at 15, Regina Jones experienced the Watts Rebellion of 1965, raised five children, stepped into places where she was not wanted, and navigated a world that offered her no favors. SOUL was the first publication devoted specifically to Black musicians and perspectives in music, published from 1966 to 1982. During its run, the publication profiled some of the era’s most prominent Black artists, including Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder.

Who in the Hell is Regina Jones? was produced by Weigel Productions Corp and directed by Soraya Sélène and Billy Miossi, edited by Nancy Novack A.C.E., co-edited by Alisa Selman, produced by Alissa Shapiro, and executive produced by Academy Award nominee Sam Pollard.

Check out the trailer.

https://www.starttv.com/stories/start-tv-to-premiere-award-winning-documentary-who-in-the-hell-is-regina-jones-in-february

New Jersey elementary school students run from ICE

Frightened little kids who are U.S. citizens are running from agents of their own government because their skin color is brown instead of white.  My childhood was full of fear.  It is horrifying and in the case of these children it is complete bigotry and racism directed by Nazi wannabe Stephen Miller.  

What is wrong in this country where adults think terrorizing little kids because of their skin color is acceptable?  I cannot accept this. I cannot accept terrified children running from adults just because of skin color!  What are we, apartheid South Africa?  This video is horrific!  Only racists could like seeing this.  Hugs

From W. Kamau Bell In Minneapolis:

Listen, read, or both; click through to hear it.

ICE Created a Restaurant That is 100% Free (And They Aren’t Allowed to Eat There)

Episode 4 of I SPENT THREE DAYS IN MINNEAPOLIS!

W. Kamau Bell

In the days after federal agents killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti (only days after other federal agents killed Renee Good), I saw a video of a haggard Minneapolis restaurant owner saying that he was going to give food away until the federal government’s occupation of Minnesota ends. His restaurant, Modern Times Cafe, was going to be 100% free… for everyone. It wasn’t just going to be free for people who proved they needed free food or for folks who asked for free food. It was going to be FREE. FOR. EVERYONE. Dylan Alverson, owner of the now-renamed Post Modern Times Cafe, was mad as hell, and he was not going to charge for pancakes anymore!

(Full Instagram bit on the page; above is a photo)

Actor and singer Mandy Patinkin’s son Gideon had shared Dylan’s video with me. Gideon runs Mandy’s verified Instagram account. The Patinkins’ IG page is filled with hopeful political messages, righteous leftist anger, and—most importantly—ways to help. At some point our Internet paths crossed, and we have tagged each other in posts ever since. Seeing Dylan’s video was yet another battery in my back that gave me the juice to go to Minneapolis. I saw the video on Monday, January 26, and by that Thursday, January 29 I was on a Zoom with the McKnight Foundation to figure out how we could work together to get me to the Twin Cities. Once we decided that I would go, I quickly put a visit to Post Modern Times on the agenda. I didn’t go there for McKnight. I went there for me. I really wanted to meet Dylan. He reminded me of people I met in Berkeley, back in the day. True believers who are more than excited to go against the grain. Luckily, Dylan was down to talk. As we discuss in the episode, he is not one for attention. He just wants to help his neighbors. I also found out that since he shared that initial video, he has decided that having a free restaurant feels so good that he wants to keep Post Modern Times Cafe free, even after Trump’s government leaves (which they finally announced they are going to do).

(Snip)

Dylan plans to turn his restaurant into a nonprofit organization. This just shows, yet again, that the effect this occupation has had on Minnesota is permanent. It doesn’t matter if the feds leave today, they have:

  • killed two people,
  • shot at least one more,
  • made schoolchildren afraid to go to school,
  • made some people (especially Latino restaurant workers) afraid to go to work,
  • hurt local business across Minnesota, because consumers are afraid to shop (or are too broke shop because they aren’t working), and
  • generally traumatized the state.

None of that gets erased, fixed, or healed just because the goons get gone. I truly hope that more people are able to sue the federal government like the teachers union, Education Minnesota, did. The only thing that has stopped the people of the Twin Cities and beyond from folding completely is that there are many, many, MANY people like Dylan Alverson who are committed to community. Like Dylan, they are committed above and beyond their own self-interest… or even their own commonsense.

While Dylan’s free restaurant may seem like a gimmick or a naive idea, Dylan sees it as part of a larger way to fight back against our authoritarian government. Dylan put it best in our interview:

“The world is watching, and they should. This could be the start of a revolution. We don’t know. But to me, it feels like it. And I’m willing to go as far as I need to if I can make that happen.”

Post Modern Times will only be able to keep up its anti-capitalistic “gamble” (gamble is Dylan’s word for what they are doing) if they also have community support. If you can, donate or spread the word about Post Modern Times Cafe’s bold plan.

(snip-MORE, including a podcast with Mandy Patinkin & Katherine Grody, helping MN teachers, and yet more!)

How Cool Is This?

Chart Shows Widespread Side Effect to Bad Bunny Performing in Spanish

By Melissa Fleur Afshar Life and Trends Reporter


Duolingo saw a sharp rise in Spanish learners following Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, according to a post shared by the language-learning app on social media.

“Duolingo saw a 35 percent increase in Spanish learners last night. Better late than never,” the company wrote on Threads on February 9, under its official account, @duolingo. The post, which included a graph showing a clear spike in Spanish lessons, has been liked more than 7,500 times to date.

The surge followed Bad Bunny’s history‑making performance at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, where he became the first artist to sing primarily in Spanish during the most-watched sporting event in the U.S. Duolingo’s official Threads account shared the data shortly after the night ended, highlighting the immediate impact the performance appeared to have on language learning behavior.

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl appearance came months after he used a Spanish-language monologue on Saturday Night Live (SNL) to tell audiences they had “four months to learn” Spanish ahead of the game. Despite online backlash from some commentators at the time, the data shared by Duolingo suggests many viewers embraced the message, with interest in learning Spanish rising sharply during the Halftime Show.

Snip-MORE

Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 2-16-2026

image

image

 

 

 

#Buddha from What Are You Really Afraid Of?

 

 

 

My nights   

 

Image from Everything Is Star Stuff

This is why I have a Rolodex with all my passwords and user names. Hugs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#tnycartoons from The New Yorker

 

 

Image from What Are You Really Afraid Of?

 

 

image

The Department of Homeland Security has brought on a 21-year-old social media professional from the Department of Labor to help run its communications channels — despite internal concerns about N*zi-coded content he previously posted.

According to The New York Times, Peyton Rollins moved from digital content manager at the Labor Department to a key role in DHS communications this month.

His name is Peyton Rollins. C’mon.

This kid has definitely killed small animals.

Could central casting find a more inbred Nazi looking 21 year old?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder when they will attack my blog or me. Hugs  

 

 

 

 

 

There were masks on the walls in a room on Epstein Island what had a dentist chair in the middle. Howard Lutnick [current Sec of Commerce] lived next to Jeffrey Epstein on 71st St and both their homes were owned by Les Wexner. #TheEpsteinClass

 

Republicans love immigrant #PeterThiel and his rampant drug use. Republicans look right past his homosexuality. Republicans love his Big Government Palantir tracking your every move.

This all shows that it’s not about invasive, gay, immigrant, ketamine addicts. All that matters is who serves fascist white nationalism.

Billionaire sex abusers get more than due process, they get Republican protection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bill Bramhall for 2/15/2026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today In History/Black History

From LitHub.

Malcolm X is assassinated in New York City.

On Sunday, February 21, 1965, a little after 3pm, as he was preparing to address his Organization of Afro-American Unity in New York’s Audubon Ballroom, the controversial civil rights leader and revolutionary Malcolm X was shot dead by members of the Nation of Islam, the religious group X had broken from the year before. He was 39.

“In the aftermath, rivers of ink spilled across New York City’s many newspapers,” wrote Ted Hamm. The legendary journalist Jimmy Breslin was callous and dismissive; Langston Hughes “somewhat cryptic.”  

James Baldwin, who was in London at the time, famously shouted at the reporters who found him after X’s death: “You did it! It is because of you—the men that created this white supremacy—that this man is dead. You are not guilty, but you did it. … Your mills, your cities, your rape of a continent started all this.” 
Later, Baldwin told the story this way:

“There we were, at the table, all dressed up, and we’d ordered everything, and we were having a very nice time with each other. The headwaiter came, and said there was a phone call for me, and Gloria rose to take it. She was very strange when she came back—she didn’t say anything, and I began to be afraid to ask her anything. Then, nibbling at something she obviously wasn’t tasting, she said, ‘Well, I’ve got to tell you because the press is on its way over here. They’ve just killed Malcolm X.’ The British press said that I accused innocent people of this murder. What I tried to say then, and will try to repeat now, is that whatever hand pulled the trigger did not buy the bullet. That bullet was forged in the crucible of the West, that death was dictated by the most successful conspiracy in the history of the world, and its name is white supremacy.”

“I was certainly saddened by the shocking and tragic assassination of your husband,” Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote to Betty Shabazz, X’s wife, after the murder. 

“While we did not always see eye to eye on methods to solve the race problem, I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had a great ability to put his finger on the existence and root of the problem. He was an eloquent spokesman for his point of view and no one can honestly doubt that Malcolm had a great concern for the problems that we face as a race.”

More than sixty years later, some details about the assassination remain unclear. But Malcolm X has endured as a cultural icon, death being, in the end, not quite enough to silence him.
MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM

 How Two of America’s Biggest Columnists Reacted to the Assassination of Malcolm X  

Fatima Bhutto on Channeling the Fearlessness of Malcolm X 

Naming the Unnamed:On the Many Uses of the Letter X
EVERGREEN QUOTE:“You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong no matter who does it or who says it.”–Malcolm X

Democrats’ ICE Hearing Just A Taste Of What’s To Come

 

Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn’t stopped.

I am tired of the gaslighting and lies. Blatantly  claiming to be following the court’s orders when they clearly are not and giving the middle finger to the courts.  Are we a nation of laws or are we now a nation ruled by corrupt gang  thugs who as one person in the DOJ said “tell the court to fuck itself”.  Where has the Republican Party of law and order gone?  When the Democrats are in charge the Republicans sue all the time to block things. Look how many times Biden was blocked by the courts in lawsuits filed by Republicans.  How would they have reacted if Biden’s administration just ignored the courts like tRump’s admin is doing?  Are we at a crisis point yet?  Hugs


 

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/courts-have-ruled-4400-times-that-ice-jailed-people-illegally-it-hasnt-stopped-2026-02-14/

  • Detained immigrants have filed more than 20,000 lawsuits seeking their release
  • Trump administration continues detentions despite court rulings
  • Sheer scale of the lawsuits threatens to clog the judicial system
  • About 700 Justice Department attorneys deployed to represent the government in immigration cases
Hundreds of judges around the country have ruled more than 4,400 times since October that President Donald Trump’s administration is detaining immigrants unlawfully, a Reuters review of court records found.
The decisions amount to a sweeping legal rebuke of Trump’s immigration crackdown. Yet the administration has continued jailing people indefinitely even after courts ruled the policy was illegal.
“It is appalling that the Government insists that this Court should redefine or completely disregard the current law as it is clearly written,” U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston of West Virginia, an appointee of President George W. Bush, wrote last week, ordering the release of a Venezuelan detainee in the state.
Most of the rulings center on the Trump administration’s departure from a nearly three-decade-old interpretation of federal law that immigrants already living in the United States could be released on bond while they pursue their cases in immigration court.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the administration is “working to lawfully deliver on President Trump’s mandate to enforce federal immigration law.”

SOARING NUMBER OF IMMIGRANT DETAINEES

Under Trump, the number of people in ICE detention reached about 68,000 this month, up about 75% from when Trump took office last year.
A conservative appeals court in New Orleans last week gave the Trump administration a victory in its drive to lock up more immigrants. Just because prior administrations did not fully utilize the law to detain people “does not mean they lacked the authority to do more,” U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Jones wrote in a decision reversing rulings that led to the release of two Mexican men. Both remain free, their lawyer said.
Other appeals courts are set to take up the issue in the coming weeks.
Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, said the increase in lawsuits came as “no surprise” – “especially after many activist judges have attempted to thwart President Trump from fulfilling the American people’s mandate for mass deportations.”
The department did not respond to more specific questions about the cases and data findings in this story.
With few other legal paths to freedom, immigrant detainees have filed more than 20,200 federal lawsuits demanding their release since Trump took office, a Reuters review of court dockets found, underscoring the sweeping impact of Trump’s policy change.
In at least 4,421 cases, more than 400 federal judges ruled since the beginning of October that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding people illegally as it carries out its mass-deportation campaign, Reuters found.
A chart showing the number of habeas challenges to immigration detention by month
A chart showing the number of habeas challenges to immigration detention by month
Other cases are pending, have been dismissed because the detainee was released, or were transferred to another judicial district, which would force immigrants to file a new case. Reuters was unable to determine how many cases were moved or re-filed.
Joseph Thomas, an 18-year-old high school student from Venezuela, was arrested during a traffic stop in Wisconsin in late December, while riding with his father, Elias Thomas, on his Walmart delivery route.
The men are asylum seekers who entered the United States in August 2023. Both are authorized to work, their lawyer, Carrie Peltier, said. Peltier said they were stopped for “driving while brown.”
Within a month, judges ordered the release of father and son.
Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz – also a Bush appointee – ruled that Joseph had been detained illegally and ordered his immediate release. In his ruling, he said Joseph was not subject to mandatory detention, and called out a “lack of any evidence that ICE had a warrant when it detained Joseph while he was a passenger in his father’s car.”
U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud, a Trump appointee, ruled that Joseph’s father Elias was eligible for a bond hearing.
“This raises an issue of statutory interpretation that courts in this District have repeatedly considered and rejected, and it will be rejected here as well,” Tostrud wrote in his order.
Joseph is now taking classes online, afraid to return to school.

LANDSLIDE OF LAWSUITS

Habeas corpus – Latin for “you shall have the body” – emerged in the English courts in the 1300s and is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. It provides a legal recourse for people the government has detained unlawfully.
Reuters counted habeas lawsuits by gathering the dockets of every publicly filed federal court case over more than two decades from Westlaw, a legal research tool that is a division of Thomson Reuters.
The records, combined with other court filings, offer the most comprehensive view to date of the scale of lawsuits moving through the U.S. justice system and of the defeats for the administration.
Within the span of a few days in January, lawyers filed habeas petitions for Liam Conejo, a five-year-old Ecuadorean boy detained in the driveway of his Minnesota home; a Ukrainian man with a valid temporary humanitarian status who was detained on his way to work as a cable technician; a Salvadoran man married to a U.S. citizen and father of a 3-year-old autistic child who is also a U.S. citizen; an Eritrean hospital worker with refugee status who was arrested after letting agents into his apartment complex and a Venezuelan man who was arrested after dropping off his daughter at school.
None had criminal records.

DIVERTED LAWYERS, VIOLATED ORDERS

The rush of lawsuits is forcing the U.S. Justice Department offices to divert attorneys who would normally prosecute criminal cases to respond to habeas cases.
Using court dockets, Reuters found more than 700 Justice Department attorneys representing the government in immigration cases. Five of the attorneys each appeared on the dockets of more than 1,000 habeas cases.
Partly as a result of that legal logjam, judges have found that the government has left people locked up even after judges ordered their release.
In a court order,  issued last month in Minnesota, Schiltz said the government had violated 96 orders in 76 cases. The U.S. Attorney there, Daniel Rosen, said in a filing,  two days later that the cases had created an “enormous burden” for government attorneys.
Similarly, U.S. District Judge Nusrat Choudhury, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden in New York, wrote this month that ICE violated two “clear and unambiguous orders” by flying a man to New Mexico for detention while falsely claiming he was in New Jersey and could be brought to a court hearing.
A Justice Department spokesperson, Natalie Baldassarre, said the administration “is complying with court orders and fully enforcing federal immigration law.”
“If rogue judges followed the law in adjudicating cases and respected the government’s obligation to properly prepare cases, there wouldn’t be an ‘overwhelming’ habeas caseload or concern over DHS following orders,” she said.

LEGAL HURDLES

In New York, advocates have waited outside immigration court to connect detained immigrants with lawyers who can file same-day habeas claims – blocking their rapid transfer to a detention center in another state.
On January 16, U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken issued an emergency ruling for an Ecuadorean man who was detained at his court hearing, barring the government from moving him out of New York. On January 30, U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter, who like Oetken was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, ordered his immediate release.
Still, many immigrants aren’t able to seek that relief. Some aren’t aware that they can file a habeas case. Others can’t find affordable lawyers.
Judy Rall, the U.S. citizen wife of a Venezuelan detainee who has spent almost a year at the Bluebonnet detention center in Texas, said she was quoted upwards of $5,000 to file a habeas petition, which she could not afford. She and her husband have a pending immigration case based on their marriage, but the government has declined to release him while the case is being adjudicated. He has no criminal record, but the government has alleged, without providing evidence, that he has links to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
This month, her lawyer offered to take on the habeas case for free.
“Our home burnt down, and I had told them I needed him to come help,” she said. “I assume that is the reason.”

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Brad Heath in Washington, D.C.; additional reporting by Brad Brooks in Minneapolis; Editing by Craig Timberg and Suzanne Goldenberg

FYI-Anytime Author Promotions

Info from the Smart ones, with links and cites.

Folks are Dropping Getting Witchy With It After Organizer Posts Video about Minneapolis

by SB Sarah 

Last year I started a list of book conventions and fan gatherings that went completely sideways or didn’t happen because they fell apart during the planning. The title: WTF Cons? I realized in about mid-May that keeping track would be a full time job and I couldn’t keep up with it. There were that many.

Sometimes it’s lack of organization. Sometimes the follow through is so bad the City of Baltimore files civil contract claims against you, as is the situation with Grace Marsceau, the organizer behind A Million Lives Book Festival. You know, the one that made headlines about how much money people lost. There was Sinners & Stardust which came with a side order of Sexual Harassment. There were weekend cons that promised attendees for registered authors and didn’t deliver any; there were gatherings that promised reader events that didn’t materialize. I could keep going but I’d be here for days.

The latest breakdown per Threads seems to be Getting Witchy With It in Salem, MA, scheduled in both 2026 and 2027. The CEO of Anytime Author PromotionsVirginia Johnson, posted a video about Minneapolis, and to say it didn’t go over well is an understatement.

Johnson has since deleted the video, which was allegedly 40 minutes in length, but @MollysBookList posted this clip:

Video Player

(If you have a copy of the full video, please contact me.)

“I have yet to see an ICE agent in the wild.”

“You’re seeing the extremism of what Minneapolis, of what the news wants to show you.”

Which part is “the extremism,” I wonder?

The part where ICE executed Renee Good? Or the part where ICE executed Alex Pretti? The tear gas canisters lobbed at pre schoolers or the ones tossed at high school students?

As of right now, ICE is reporting arrests of 3000 people and moving detainees to Nebraska without any due process. Gabriel Brito in Minneapolis St Paul Magazine reported on 9 February that “even the most conservative estimates figure over 3,000 people have been detained during Operation Metro Surge.” So where did those thousands of people go?

The level of privileged, ignorant bullshit this person seems to be fertilizing her professional reputation with is truly breathtaking.

(Also, is she driving while recording this? I can’t tell from the windows but it appears that the car is in motion and she’s driving it. If so, then I ask most sincerely, WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THAT. And I once saw someone tuning a violin while slowly moving toward the George Washington Bridge at 7am. Pardon my fuddy duddy question but is this a thing? That people do? Record videos while driving?)

I haven’t been able to find any active social media accounts for Anytime Author Promotions, and I haven’t seen a statement. I have reached out to them directly – though I tried to use the comment form on their site to reach out, but I received an error message that my message was unable to be sent.

But when I looked into the company, I was shocked. This isn’t one event: it’s many.

Look at the number of events being produced by Anytime Author Promotions:

  • Flirty in Kansas City, MO, Tampa, FL, and Des Moines, Iowa.
  • Dreaming Dirty in Ann Arbor, MI, Baltimore MD, and Las Vegas, NV.
  • Getting Witchy with It in Salem, and New Orleans and Charleston.
  • RAGE in Atlantic City, NJ, and Versailles, Ohio.
  • Books and Chocolate in Hershey, PA.
  • Glass City in Toledo, OH.
  • Book Blast in Dallas, TX and Seattle, WA.

That is a lot of events – fifteen by my counting which is not my greatest skill –  many of which are scheduled into 2028.

And sure enough, authors are posting about dropping out and forfeiting their deposits – that’s a song many know all the words to.

So many authors, in fact, that it’s a trending topic on Threads right now – twice. (I have a screengrab but I don’t want to post it because one of the other trending topics is a spoiler for a tv show.)

Some are dropping out of multiple Anytime Author Promotions events, including Sarah Zane who was scheduled to attend four of them:

welll I'm dropping out of Anytime Author Promotion Events
The ones I was scheduled for were:
Getting Witchy With It 2026
Books and Chocolate 2026
Getting Witchy With It 2027
Dreaming Dirty in Vegas 2027
I'm sure I won't see any of my table fee money back for the events, but I won't continue to support them
I'm so sick of finding out event runners don't have the same values I do and not feeling safe at events, but here's some events I have scheduled that I fully recommend:
@booksgownsandcrowns @bookharvestcon
@spellboundinthedistrict (they also run @spellboundinthevalley)
@belfast_books_and_ballgowns
all of these events are hosted by people I know and trust and have had incredibly positive experiences

Revelations about the alleged political alignment of the CEO of Anytime Author Promotions do not appear to be new – only the video is.

Author Maddox Grey reported in November 2024 in another thread that the Anytime Author Promotions Facebook group seems to have a history of using right-coded language and fostering a community that does so as well:

Highlights from the comments: - Calling queer people who were concerned about Project 2025 woke - Folks with Harry Potter references in their profiles not understanding what the big deal was (i.e. tell me you don't care about trans rights without telling me you don't care about trans rights) - Trump supporters saying queer people are making a big deal out of nothing and to live and let live - Lots of all ives matter bullshit

I cannot find this Facebook group, only pages that are sporadically updated, so I can’t fact check this claim.

What a shitty position for folks trying to grow a career to be in. The two largest cons are long gone, along with all the support and reader connections they fostered. There are many other gatherings, but as I mentioned at the start, it’s a risky prospect. They can be replete with inexperienced conference organizers, insufficient budget for events and security, and low turnout among authors, readers, or both. It’s a real crap shoot with time, money, and energy – all of which are in limited supply.

To create a successful event, in my experience, you need buy-in from several key groups. In this case:

  • Authors, but especially some with established audiences and name recognition. That said, hosting an author with a massive fanbase requires additional security, space, and logistical organization for crowd control and safety for everyone.
  • Readers who might want to meet those authors and potentially be introduced to new ones, which requires outreach and engagement and, you know, marketing and publicity. Readers also might want or expect a reader-focused event like a party or similar, and not just a book signing and panels. So that means budget allotments for decoration, entertainment, etc.
  • Host Location, i.e. where will this event be held? Is there an airport with direct flights or easy driving access and parking? Does the space have enough room should items A and B yield a high turnout? What about food – because food costs inside hotels will send your eyebrows right into your hairline.

Then, considering the above, how much will attending cost? How much are table fees? Will those fees cover the cost of the above items? Those margins might thinner than the profit on a mass market paperback.

(I also want to say a word about conference organizing: I used to do this, so I’m not just talking out of my ass here. I have always followed what I call “the mafia rule” when blogging: “You don’t talk about the work, don’t talk about the family,” so the most I want to say is that many years ago, I worked a nonprofit which hosted meetings between their membership and US and international officials. Organizing these gatherings both in the US and abroad was my job. So while I’m a little rusty, I’m pretty familiar with the large and small scale logistical coordination of stakeholders and invested parties.)

Anytime Author Promotions may have struggled with many of the above, according to Melissa Lam, who posted a series of graphics as a statement regarding their withdrawal from their 2027 event in Kansas City – one that they stated they have already paid for in full:

I was highly disappointed by the reader attendance at
Flirty in KC 2026.
(I drove 6+ hours from MN to MI, and it was one of my slowest events... ever. Many of the authors around me were talking about how they didn't even break even on the high af table fee, not to mention flight, gas, hotel, meals, etc.)
2: The event organizers were treating authors with so much disrespect.
(Lecturing authors like they were children, yelling, snippy attitudes, telling authors they couldn't eat at their tables or be on their phones, even though that's how many of us take payment.)
As a Minnesotan, I do NOT stand with the event organizer's political views (just gross)
4. I will NOT be reselling my table no explanation needed

Lam then went on to share the eleven other events they will be appearing at in 2026. So there are other options – many other options.

I think we are accelerating past the point where embracing right wing rhetoric and supporting the actions of the current administration yields ferocious backlash, especially within romance, and especially within communities of marginalized people within romance.

With one video and the resulting social media response, Johnson appears to have damaged the brand of the company and reduced author and reader attendance at most of the scheduled events, if reports on Threads are accurate. That is a big, big mess.

As this seems to be an evolving situation, I’ll update this post if more information becomes available.