The Wordsmith's Forge

What Would It Take to Approve a Housing Permit in 24 Hours?

In its Housing-Ready City Toolkit, Strong Towns recommended a 24-hour turnaround for permits. That's not an exaggeration.


Before reading onward in the article, here's how I would set it up...

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Three-year-old child forced to serve as her own attorney in Tucson immigration court

The child, barely old enough to talk, was one of 25 immigrant children forced to fight removal efforts by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at the Pima County immigration courthouse in Tucson on Nov. 24.


This article highlights numerous abuses and other problems.

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Congress quietly strips right-to-repair provisions from US military spending bill

Congress has released the final version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and critics have been quick to point out that previously proposed rules giving the US military the right to repair its equipment without having to rely on contractors have gone missing.

The House and Senate versions of the NDAA passed earlier both included provisions that would have extended common right-to-repair rules to US military branches, requiring defense contractors to provide access to technical data, information, and components that enabled military customers to quickly repair essential equipment. Both of those provisions were stripped from the final joint-chamber reconciled version of the bill, published Monday, right-to-repair advocates at the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) pointed out in a press release.


Imagine that you are deep in enemy territory, your gear breaks, and you have no way to fix it.

Also, this greatly undermines everyone else's argument that once you buy something, it belongs to you, and you can do whatever you damn please with it.  The military was the best argument for right to repair.

However, it offers a huge opportunity to any manufacturer who wishes to scoop market share.  You sell the product with its user manual.  Then for those owners who want to repair their own equipment, you sell spare parts and offer classes on maintenance and repair.  People who want to repair things would logically buy from you instead of your competitors.

Rhode Island's $85 Million Expansion Masquerading as Maintenance

The Ocean State’s roads and bridges are failing. Rather than prioritizing repair, officials pursued an $85 million expansion that will cost decades of future maintenance.

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To restore trust in government, this Belgian town opened a lottery that elects 30 random citizens to power. It's working.

In 2019, Ostbelgien, a town in Belgium with about 80,000 residents, took a gamble on a new approach to governing: The city’s parliament voted to establish a permanent Citizens’ Council and Assembly, giving randomly-selected citizens the power to make decisions.


Gosh, I never expected to see anything like that on Earth. It's something done on the Common Ground colony in my science fiction. They have elected seats too.  Now I have to wonder if politicians will start keeping fish to demonstrate their grasp of ecology.

This poem is spillover from the November 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by librarygeek. It also fills the "I didn't want power. All I wanted was control. Over my life." square in my 11-1-25 card for the Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories Bingo fest.

Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed notes, some of which are spoilers. It includes a ritual for justice with violent ends, ominous mythical figures, a bad leader, reference to sexual assault, reference to abuse under color of authority, treachery, and other challenges. If these are touchy topics for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.

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These are the content notes for "The Clearest Signal."

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Here are the character notes for "The Clearest Signal."

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dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday with a theme of "hidden expectations or accidental entanglements."

Over on ysabetwordsmith’s blog here on Dreamwidth, a comment on her poem “New and Innovative Approaches,” led to the theme for this month’s Magpie Monday.

Because there’s such a strong tie to Frank the Crank’s write-in election to the Mercedes city council, I’d like to specify that all the prompts remain in or around Mercedes, in the Polychrome Heroics universe. It’s still possible to write a near-infinite range of prompts which connect to one or both of the broad ideas of this month’s theme. Modern society has an enormous number of hidden expectations, based on one’s age, gender, skin tone, ability or disability, and even one’s mental health. How do those expectations affect life as the town is rebuilding after a tremendous, world-changing earthquake? Is it easier to stay, where there are familiar faces and resources (stretched to the breaking point), or to leave, to possibly escape a hidden expectation?

Here are the location notes for "New and Innovative Approaches."

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