17 September—First, the bad news: It appears that in trying to save a little black formicine life (because all black lives matter) I likely subjected the bold, determined, innocent little pismire of whom I wrote on Friday to a cruel death at the mandibles of the racially identical ants of the colony I delivered her to.

El Liberalissimo, ever ready to inflict painful guilt on the right, was good (and cruel) enough to remind me that “ants are very communal and not welcoming to those who speak a different ant language. Alas,” he rubbed it in, “you probably sentenced your little friend to certain death in a very alien fief. They are much like us, tho for the most part we’ve stopped eating our enemies.”

Peccavi, peccavi. Mea maxima culpa. Absolve me de peccato meo. But a different ant language? Just as people have English, ants must have a lingua franca: Formiconian, perhaps, or Myrmidonian or, Pismirian?

At least my intention was humane. It hadn’t occurred to me that ant colonies can’t accept new ants in their territories because the immigrants, coming from abroad and not having pheromone passports, are considered to be invaders.

One wonders whether the colony that may have eaten my little black ant also may have eaten the crumb she gave her life for.

In all events, there’s no excuse at all for Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Texas’ Greg Abbott emulating the ants as best they can. The rectal twins in the vanguard of America’s xenophobic, self-serving, misanthropically dictatorial governors (all Republicans, sad to say), go to extraordinary and shamefully inhumane lengths to make life miserable for people different from themselves and their mindless troglodytic followers. For no other reason, be assured, than to pander to their fellow assholes for their own political advantage.

And more bad news: That despicable, reprehensible, corrupt Texas Republican attorney general and Trump endorsee Ken Paxton was acquitted yesterday by the equally despicable, reprehensible, corrupt Republican majority in the Texas Senate. Unbelievable, incredible, inconceivable, given the evidence. Even in Texas. So we can be pretty damn sure that all manner of dirty deals were done among his self-serving cronies to keep Paxton in office and politics.

And don’t think for one second that Democrats wouldn’t do as much to protect and preserve their own despicable, reprehensible, corrupt cronies in states like Connecticut.

Now, the good news: