Final Curtain

B&C Companion Reader, 5th and last edition containing all blog entries to date [huge single .pdf], has just been linked to blog web version. Now upwards of 3,000 pages of perplexing text provide those interested with, if nothing else, 2 lavish volumes, not to mention thousands of links, to fritter days away, produce less trash, and protect planet’s resources. Time allows existence; how minutes are applied defines lives. Despair, drinks, distractions, drugs, fears, obsessions and traffic all steal months and waste years. Labann’s race was run; did not finish, got disqualified for exceeding time limit.

"All of us in some way are trying to kill time. When it's all said and done, time ends up killing us... I stopped trying to figure everything out a long time ago." Bob Dylan, Masked and Anonymous (Larry Charles, dir., 2003) "Time will only move us toward freedom if it moves us toward truth." Noam Chomsky

As in all previous editions, reviewing posts led to a few more insights. Why mention Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead, or Led Zeppelin? Massive popularity and prolific repertoires deliver better bait, cultural impact, lyrics galore, and reader recognition. They played what they discovered inside themselves, and prayed for an audience that paid. Labann's not some clapping monkey dancing on a string either. Breaking fourth wall, did reference less renowned artists 400 times as often because they were more directly relevant. Plenty of evidence in sources cited, not just author’s personal expertise of riding under every condition for over half a century, and vetted texts from other participants and peers. So much has changed over so many years, media seem to melt into muck of myth.

While seldom repeating self, laid bare every topic within scope definitively, including how bicyclists are dismissed and marginalized by billionaires and their war against humanity and planet, which makes them prime targets for retribution. Americans should revoke their license to kill, seize their assets for redistribution, what taxation used to do, and send these traitors to same jungle prisons they won’t admit are funded by taxes citizens other than they pay. Majority ought to boycott taxes altogether; good time to start since thousands of IRS enforcers were fired. Consequences! No revenue would derail their national betrayal.

Exceeded tolerance on painful reminders while climbing bluff they call College Hill where scions of moneyed elites look down across a southwestward vista of failed factories, grim ghettoes, and setting sun. Grew up surrounded by brilliant achievers 10 to 20 years older doing remarkable things, some legendary for their innovative departures: “New things to do, new ways to be.” Decades later, along with early gen-xers, late-boomers, and might-have-beens, did nothing so notable. Fame skips generations, akin to twins; or was it intentional suppression. Did decommission failed devices, dejunk their disarray, develop data methodologies, digitize entire libraries of corporate manuals, distribute important protocols, and draft a quarter million published pages. In own defense, mundane due diligence delivered 10,000 dense but desired results as a direct consequence. Followed sensible rules and made great progress smugly expected and taken for granted; did any of it matter? Since managed to insult everyone by exposing group and party foibles, not a popular approach but a product of logical analysis and righteous rage. Which suit is trump may dominate games, but not with houses of cards or temporary schemes one might stage only to end call or let fall.

View from space reveals Earth as one place for entire human race, more black, brown or yellow peoples than pale or pink who seem to think only they can seal deals. Rate of annual human reproduction peaked in 1965 at 2.3%, now down to a half-century low of 0.85%, but among an all-time high population of 8.1 billion. So, though rate declined upon withering costs and ZPG awareness, headcount yet rises unbridled, which stresses sources of food, income, potable water, shelter, and transportation. How long and how many before this unsustainable situation self corrects? In response, rich preppers buy GS jets and private islands; survivalists buy bomb shelters and crypto currency; both encourage global apocalypse expecting elbow room afterwards. A flawed plan, people they want dead produce everything.

Vox verifies, “Poverty, defined... as having less than 50% of the US median household income of $71,000, is associated with 183,000 American deaths per year.” By just existing and wealth they deny, billionaires cause more deaths than mass murderers. GOP has always defunded basic education, food assistance, legal protections, and minimal standards that raise families out of poverty into prosperity. Businessmen aligned with GOP may hate taxes, but having no workforce to exploit is far more problematic. “Nobody wants to work,” signifies that not being able to apply skills for which folks were weren't trained kills. Souls go so hollow that any false ideology fills in holes. At least pick a capable leader or partner, because dictators and parasites will drag you under. Tariff policy fiasco of 47 has already collapsed all markets and cost investors $6 trillion. Seems goal remains instant poverty and wealth destruction; 6 bankruptcies later, you'd think nation wouldn't trust his business sense.

Can't expect populace to really understand science, given continual distraction, drug abuse, educational inadequacy, mental defect, naive slackness, oblivious apathy, and/or social conditioning. Should expand and qualify previous mentions. Science is a methodology that begins with curiosity, carefully observes, deduces causes, experiments repeatedly, formulates theories, and gradually gains useful knowledge through peer review, published data, and sophisticated consensus. Science delivers accuracy, quality, reliability, safety, and satisfaction. Only morons and narcissists deny its value as a cooperative principle. Sounds like too much effort and too slow results until you realize an army of practitioners built myriad tools specifically to assist (not subrogate responsibility), and together wield these computers, devices, and spreadsheets in service to society. Anemometers, barometers, modeling software, and thermometers let bicyclists know weekly weather conditions to plan rides, or you can just set out and suffer miserably like some medieval serf for sake of some sadist's schadenfreude.

“I should really go for a run... but, hmm. That sky looks kind of ominous. Doesn't it? So you pick up your phone to check the weather... when you look at your phone you’ve got a message or an email so you open... It’s forty minutes later and you put your phone down wonder what you were doing and remember you were going... That is exactly how I first find Alan [pioneer of The Men’s Rights Movement]... The old normal is long gone... all these factoids about how bad things are for women? Alan debunks a lot of them.” Penelope Skinner’s stage play Angry Alan, 2018, now being staged on Broadway.

A series of Youtube videos recently emerged purporting to explain demise of 1960's counterculture, what media labeled beatniks, freegans, and hippies. Of course none could succeed against oligarchic power and wealth, what Govenor Tim Walz aptly describes as, “Corrupt and cruel.” Senator Jamie Raskin says, ”Their version of justice is ‘just us’”. Altruism always clashes with capitalism and loses. Those with royal presumptions don’t want to rub elbows with filthy, rebellious, perverse, unwashed commoners, serfs, or "their subjects", rather have henchmen squeeze them for every penny then use extorted money to exile those they’ve impoverished. Every concession written into law as a human right was just negated by ruling class in their “Big Beautiful Bill” that will care for billionaires alone and dare millions to die or suffer, conspicuously seniors and vulnerable others.

Creation of Bike&Chain was compelled 30 years ago by recognizing a crisis of truth and dearth of honesty were coming. Because bicycling is a balanced activity, equally joyful and painful, leaning and upright, it often seems self contradictory. Spectrum from blatant deceit to undeniable fact climbs from Cheerleader Leave-it's press briefings, conservative news propaganda, cult leader's Truth Social tweets, depraved gaslighting, embarrassed euphemisms, eyewitness testimony, frequent white lies that get you through your day, homespun folklore, metaphors, myths, neglectful omissions, passages from Testament and Torah, state secrets, statutes of math and science, to subtle tenets beyond your grasp that make your brain hurt. Don’t reference gods and kings since they always lie to solidify ascendancy. Oligarchs and politicians are not listed in Preface of Bike&Chain, either, as it’s given they’d hate every paragraph written by Al (Labann), but not AI (Artificial Intelligence), as are many 47-era documents that cite nonsense from nonexistent sources excused as format eras. Public has no idea of trillions of pages written that few ever read, including their omnibus bill. Own goal was never to amass text but in context make sense, practice poise, and prevent failure. Both excess and paucity signify sin.

“There’s a cost for telling the truth, but you have to stand up for it,” said actor/producer George Clooney regarding Edward R. Murrow’s departure from CBS and fall from grace after nullifying Senator Joe McCarthy’s communist witch hunt. He then accepted JFK's offer to run Voice of America. “Humans have a lot of trouble with the truth; there is [sic] so many layers of lies and deceptions: political, religious, economic, moral... how do you behave toward other people?” R. Crumb, interview, 2020.

Crime lord and executive branch don’t want you to apply knowledge, just cower from their threats and jump to their commands. They deeply fear disruptive entrepreneurs and smart adversaries and direly dread relative poverty and social setbacks. They covet all power and wealth others possess. Even the power of a motor makes simple drivers lose compassion, empathy, and love for anyone other than themselves. However, most audiences prefer a positive message that enslaves them rather than a sad truth that sets them free. Bicyclists shouldn’t have to calculate dangers of political overreach, including criminal charges and prison sentences bicyclists alone must face for exceeding 15 mph limit in Mayor Adam’s New York City, only how long cassette gears, cork tape, drive chains, latex tubes, pneumatic tires, or shoe velcro will last and how many to stock up on before tariffs commence. It’s Adams himself who should be in prison for accepting bribes, being convicted, and catering to 47's optics; soon he'll be replaced by a popular progressive.

Heroes don’t fold under intimidation, they hear a call to action. Honest leaders don't call their every decision "the greatest in history" and other hyperbolic superlatives that confess inferiority. Soldiers weren’t honored by 47’s $50 million dollar 79th birthday bash attended by a mere tens of thousands, probably many foreign spies assessing military might. Heroes joined five million collectively attending preemptive No Kings events, largest single-day protest in nation's history, peeing on his parade and reinforcing his revenge. People in positions of power must protect those for whom they are responsible. Those who cause trouble invite reprisal. Love is more powerful than fear. 

Fascists are nihilists. They don’t want to do cooperative work, rather coerce or kill to achieve their callous agenda. You’d have to be a burbling moron, drug addict, or execrable menace to endorse such behavior, as does DOGE oligarch Leon, meddling in every federal agency while on Adderall, Ecstasy, and Ketamine. Now silent, GOP hypocrites relentlessly vilified Hunter Biden for his self admitted addiction, though he had no role whatever in government. They’ve been doing that for at least half a century when they humiliated presidential brother and southern farmer Billy Carter. Not one word of B&C has done any harm or was generated through substance abuse. By closing USAID DOGE caused 300,000 deaths to date, a small fraction compared to the millions trade wars will ultimately kill. Resultant chaos and cuts cost billions more than expenses avoided. Republican Senator Ron Johnson called their bijou fugly bid “grotesque and immoral”; Leon called it “a disgusting abomination” for adding $5 trillion to public debt. Doesn't meet ratified criteria of Four Freedoms: From tyranny and want, of religion and speech; in fact, passed Senate on narrowest of margins, one vote by Vice Vance, nullifies all four, and strips most rights. Demented grifter boss is back at it, stealing from poor trying to surpass former pal as world’s richest SOB. Idiots bribing him for influence by buying his goldcard citizenship and grift-coin will lose it all, not be repaid, and probably get deported should they complain. Ponzi schemes bilk marks and monetize presidency; a few million seems his price for a prison pardon. Supporters are being deceived and thieved by a gang who federal counselor Michael Popok identifies as, “a cyrpto-currency fueled, ferocious, godless, unpatriotic kleptocracy.” Just 18 months from now there will be a Democratic Congress and Senate impeaching entire administration for gross violations of articles of Constitution and oaths of office, not to mention hundreds of felonies including mass murder, other capital offenses, and ursurping congressional and court powers. Hard to commit treason, do favors, or pardon others for pay while incarcerated in El Salvador.

Labann’s predictions on politics of plunder began with 1990’s listserve posts, so it's maddening when what was avoidable imposes itself anyway. Countermeasures for this emerging Milieu of Murder can’t be polite or timid. Abiding laws doesn’t involve contriving loopholes, such as delaying judicial cases indefinitely, or returning names of military bases for confederate traitors by slightly altering spellings. Courts, military, and most states have so far shown they aren’t on board with such absurdity, so there’s still a spark of optimism. Nikita Khrushchev threatened he’d bury USA through financial warfare; he couldn’t, but own congress is now taking same tactics. First they'll fail to deliver on promises, so you can't pay home ownership costs, then you're forced out, mobile, and vulnerable, as corporations absorb all properties and raise rents so high that only slaves they own get housed as a measure of control, "I owe my soul to the company store." Same old game. Happy Independence Day!

“Don't give it up, you got an empty cup only love can fill... From day to day just letting it ride. You get so far away from how it feels inside. You can't let go cause you're afraid to fall, but the day may come when you can't feel at all. The words come out like an angry stream. You hear yourself say things you could never mean.” Grateful Dead, Comes a Time, Europe ’72, Warner Bros., 1972

Panel from Maria Scrivan’s graphic novel Nat a Chance, Graphix, 2025 (233 pp.) - What kind of world will be left for next generation?

Jimmy Kimmel Live was nominated 35 times and won 3 Emmy Awards over its 24 year run to date; it reaches 43 million viewers monthly. Top rated late night show Stephen Colbert was nominated 31 times and won 4 Emmy Awards, as well as 107 total nominations among dozens of different awards through 1600 episodes, since taking over from David Letterman in 2015. Beatles on Ed Sullivan Show in same theater attracted 73 million viewers. Cynically capitalistic, The Apprentice hosted by Donald Trump for 14 seasons was nominated for 4 Emmys but won none through 178 episodes with an average 20 million viewership (mediocre back then) and earning a below par Nielsen rank, 4 out of 10, before being canceled. Nielsen rates as #1 game Grand Theft Auto 6, where players take on roles in organized crime to drive badly while shooting helpless bystanders and smuggling drugs, as if public needed a blueprint for more violence against innocents or example of a crime lord running government. Hateful leadership also promotes intolerable traffic violence.

Finally, as curtain closes, this vinyl track of finality: “...the singing man is at his song; the holy on their knees. The reckless are out wrecking; the timid plead their pleas. No one knows much more of this than anyone can see... all we ever wanted was to learn and love and grow... Gave the best we had to give, how much we’ll never know... there were days, and there were days between.” Last collaboration between Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter before Jerry’s untimely death, Days Between, live 1993, Long Strange Trip soundtrack, 1999

Must Romaine

“Well, my wife still respects me, I really misuse her. I am having an affair with a random computer. Don’t you know I'm a 2000 man, and my kids they just don't understand me at all. ‘Oh daddy, proud of your planet... Oh daddy, your brain's still flashing like it did when you were young. Or do you come down crashing seeing all the things you'd done?’ All was a big put on.” - The Rolling Stones , 2000 Man, Their Satanic Majesties Request, London Recordings, 1967

Conditioned to think as cycling foodstuff dark leafy greens were ultra healthy, then confused to learn all vegetables could contain pathogens and require careful prep to be ingested safely, public was easily convinced by psychotic conspiracists that horticulture and science failed them completely. No, science succeeds wildly at saving humanity as long as its advice is applied conditionally. There are no panaceas; too much medicine can be worse than none at all. Vaccines have evaded over a billion deaths, and millions of cases of crippling ailments such as polio, over last century or two. Refrigeration reduces diarrhea, rot and spoilage. Only “experts” who want you to develop arthritis, cancers, colon polyps, heart disease, osteoporosis, and type-2 diabetes tell you not to eat chard, collards, kale, mesclun, mustard, romaine, spinach, sprouts, and watercress. Kill all competition is their murderous mantra. Still best to consume each home grown, in season, local, loose, uncut, and washed twice with filtered water, rather than commercially grown, late season, pre-trimmed, unwashed, and vacuum bagged later.

Like bicyclists who widely roam, veggie consumers must choose wisely and decide times from home, but should never rule out altogether, because produce satisfies hunger and sheds bicycling weight, while worse perils remain. Critics instill e-coli fear over unseen bacteria versus visible evidence in health statistics. Animal flesh alive or dead is 100 times more dangerous: pathogens plus animal vaccines, carcinogens, fungi, hormones, parasites, poisons, prions, and toxins. Blame genes or delude special self it won’t happen to you.

Out of desperation to dominate, gaslighters, lawyers and salesmen will demonically argue definitions of words. So, many words now have multiple connotations and meanings, i. e., cool (distant, nifty, or temps below norm), some even contradictory. Constitution and jurisprudence rely upon vocabulary consensus from Age of Enlightenment, not gutter slang from this offensive, postmodern, skeptical, transactional, vulgar era that argues “86 47” is an assassination threat and proof of intent, as was Posobiec’s prior goad “86 46”. “Love is as strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave,” according to Bible. Deep six all for love, and expect scorn. Sown wind reaps whirlwinds, and thou shalt see greater abominations.

If America was a meritocracy, 46 would be revered as best performer in modernity, rather than renounced for not making way sooner for nation’s next most qualified candidate in history, who would then have been elected versus an abominable sociopath facing sentencing. Measure of success today compares number of crimes committed and indictments canceled through perp’s cunning denials and excuses. Star status and street cred now go to those with most convictions dismissed. Unless you discriminate between evil and good, heroes are whoever rewrites history after massacres. Relentless incredulity attacks undermine confidence in facts. If trust dissolves, democracy dies, faith rusts, and fascists rise.

No matter how much this semaphore of structured sentences stalks facts by relaying stuff personally witnessed or stated responsibly in expert testimony, those who live in echo chambers and mirrored halls interpret essay stacks to amuse and suit selves. There are ample provocations but little truth in social maelstrom. Cautionary communication seems sprinkled as if metaphor seasoning readers scarcely taste. Journalistic liberty is under FCC bombardment while press secretary parrots lie of president championing 1st Amendment. “Don’t wait to be told. Heed no tainted hints. Experience your own enlightenment, pain, pleasure, and relationships. Collect facts that matter to you, let others do the same, listen carefully, question explanations, and take for granted things that make no difference. Tolerate diversity, since it's a species survival mechanism. Once you’ve analyzed for yourself, stick with what challenges you. Those who do will know marginally more than the multitude of defeated; that's all it takes to get an edge, move ahead, restore momentum, serve others, and succeed. Forget about seeking truths, eternal tease; let them find you should ever they please.” Labann Says, 2015

Many, but not all, people would prefer negative situations to resolve positively. They seldom do without exertion and intervention. There’s no exit ramp that lets you lazily and safely pull over and watch society crash. Individuals must assume responsibility or mankind collectively suffers consequences. Mundane repetition in all things seem like ruts in road that motorists cause by following each other trapped in lanes as if locomotives on rails. Bicyclists avoid cracks, potholes, and ruts for safer and smoother rolling. As a large but mistreated minority, bicyclists dodge hazards and weave edges rather than confront planner neglect and demand better treatment. Driving USA into wartime status would evade some constitutional issues fascists face. Without digging in heels through dissent, you’ll be one forced to do all fighting when sent to war zones or worse. Bicyclists could unite against radical right bent on excluding them from roads against their consent. Liberals don’t care how you choose to go, so it’s clear who your enemies are.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch now has police issuing criminal summons to bicyclists for minor infractions, which could lead to deportations and definitely discriminates unconstitutionally by targeting neither motorists or pedestrians, only bicyclists. You might wonder why she suddenly changed this long established policy. Sinner-in-Chief extorted Mayor Eric Adams, to whom Tisch reports, and tried to negate Congestion Tolls to Lower Manhattan, as if they were a matter of national importance rather than patronage of Big Shell Oil washed up on beaches. New York is entitled to make its own local policies as long as they are legal without undue federal encroachment. Their Attorney General Tish James has filed over a dozen lawsuits against a range of lawless and unconstitutional acts framed as executive orders, none of which bind states to comply since they violate existing laws enacted by Congress.

Civil rights, safety nets, women’s suffrage were all hard fought contracts between citizens and democratic rule, a public consensus forged from civil disobedience, groundswell protests, and nonviolent countermeasures. But vigilant neutralization can be difficult to sustain when executive branch is,“Doing things every day... obviously corrupt, unpopular, un-smart, and zero constituency,” as Rachel Maddow reports. Determined to destroy democracy and establish rule by oligarchy, they must see how many articles of constitution they can negate to wage war against public. Collapsing system seems stupidly shortsighted. If US dollar crashes and loses global reserve currency, crypto will become worthless and other state currencies plummet in value. Fathead fascists should do what makes them richer and thiner, which means fasting and sacrificing to maximize value and spread wealth. They’d rather make everyone poorer.

Former NFL and UFL lineman Kristjan Sokoli stars as Messenger 666 (Dwayne Buckle, dir., 2025), a low budget sci-fi debacle where maniacal truckers seem intent to mow down bicycle messengers. Then the 300 lb, 6’-5” hero unleashes his super power to tackle pharma company behind this mayhem.

The Big Bike Film Night 2025 events presented scores of short documentaries intended to inspire participation across Australia and New Zealand, just winding up in Manitoba, Canada. More encouragements are scattered around internet and Youtube of which a small sampling are described below.

Gushing documentary We Ride Why (Greg Roth and Jason Tang, dirs., 2025) covers affluent but guilty cycling for charity and Specialized in Seattle.

Study Says Biking to Work Prevents Early Death (Berm Peak, dir., 2025) is just one of several videos advocating bike commuting, because its accountability, consistency, and lifestyle integration make it a unique way to improve mental and physical health. The testimonies in countless appended comments are even more inspiring.

Happy and harmless Thai immigrant May Lilaonitkul is caught Switching Lanes (Guy Wilkinson, dir., 2023) after she restores a bicycle to explore with gratitude her new home, San Francisco, California. Canned sardines better describes motorists, who choose their transportation specifically to avoid all contact with environment and human involvement, versus curious and vulnerable bicyclist who are glad to be alive and interactive.

Ride (Dean Johnson, dir., 2021) profiles wrench tech Ian Downing enjoying and reviving bicycles in Tumut, NSW, Australia in conjunction with Chris and Gemma Russell of Tom’s Outdoors. Dean has also made other outdoors short documentaries including one on bikepacking, which highlights laden bikes and lovely terrains.

Some songs definitely reference while others just remind you of bicycling. Below are two of each, respectively. Note: Official List has just been updated.

Caitie (Caitlin Claessens), I Like to Ride My Bicycle [juvenile], single video, self, 2019 “I ride it everywhere. Anywhere you need to go, a bike can take you there... It’s easy as can be... and you can ride with me!”

Crepes, Bicycle Man, single video, Spunk Records, 2018

“I would really like to watch you ride, and always feel you by my side... You have a way of walking ‘round; Your feet, they never touch the ground. And you are shining... For me, oh, our shadow in the morning sun becomes my fun.” - Jefferson Airplane, Watch Her Ride, After Bathing At Baxters, RCA Records, 1967

“I remembered the days when I wasn't afraid of the sunshine, but now it beats down on the asphalt land... We can run but we can't hide from it. Of all possible worlds we only got one; we gotta ride on it. Whatever we've done, we’ll never get far from what we leave behind. Baby, we can run, run, run, but we can't hide.” Brent Mydland, Grateful Dead, We Can Run, Built to Last, Arista, 1989

Lion Shlain

“Hunger stopped him... death has gagged his accusations. We are free now... now we can end the world. We’re not guilty, he was crazy, and it's been going on for ten thousand years. Take your place on The Great Mandella as it moves through your brief moment of time. Win or lose now, you must choose now, and if you lose you've only wasted your life.” Mary Allin Travers and Peter Yarrow, The Great Mandella (The Wheel of Life), Album 1770, Warner Records, 1967

Snowballs are soft weapons of aggression. Nigh on 60 years ago before limited access highways confined traffic and prohibited pedestrians, bullies on main streets would pelt weaker, younger boys and taunt peers to target trailers whose tractor drivers didn’t care or notice. Drew a line at private passenger vehicles, because that might blind drivers and cause accidents. Scolded them to cease and desist, but they did it anyway, drew motorist reprisals, and induced scary chases by one obese schmuck in an obscenely big obtusely empty truck after another on route to a brewery six-pack that could instead tuck into a bike basket or rack. Could‘ve died in a road rage incident before altogether ducking local pack. Abet a felony attack, go to prison along with actual perp. What the frack!

Advice given out of empathy gets embraced less often than ignored. For similar reasons, nobody twice reads this blog so repeatedly abhorred. Instantly loses half of Americans, who only comprehend on a 5th grade level, texts scored 90+ on Flesch–Kincaid test. Never wanted to repeat self, stand out from a crepuscular profile, stick to a single topic, or surpass an inscrutable 10 F-K’s. With propaganda, persistence pays, so one must mundanely double down with every deceit whenever common sense or disbelief disputes. It’s exhausting, mirthless, and overcome simply by stating facts and telling truths from start. Your appeals to better selves does not presume your own blameless perfection in social criticism pursuits.

What causes aggression? Carryover from primitive hunters? Natural tendency in human DNA? Unfulfilled immature needs? A century of psychology offered burgeoning insights into how situations evolved from swarm predators into what they now are, lone wolves enabled by interconnected society. Can savage instincts be sublimated into sports skills? Recognize outrageous responses not only from spoken testimony or written transcripts, but study of body movements and facial expressions, a holistic right brained approach that had been culturally deselected, as late neurophysician Dr. Leonard Shlain argued, through left brained conditioning, linear storytelling, and mathematical reasoning.

All tribes were once organized around goddesses and matriarchs; feminism was a clue matriarchy was staging a comeback. Lionesses lead hunts to this day. Map reading is right brained; it fuses absorption of a complex image with memories of ground based landmarks. Through intuitive reckoning you leapfrog left brained grid searches to find your destination. Christianity was likewise founded upon immaculate birth and nurturing femininity, though later appropriated by impotent patriarchs who produced somber tomes sans graven images. Protestants banned worship of Mary, Mother of Jesus, while pursuing their witch hunts against herbal healers and wise women, who made these misogynists feel guilty and inferior, which they were. Swine persecute saints who personify their reneged pacts, such as community, decency, equality, legality, marriage, and stewardship.

In his 2015 Address to Joint Congress, the late Pope Francis urged Americans to, “Defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics. A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk... [and] to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity. I am convinced that we can make a difference, and I have no doubt that the United States – and this Congress – have an important role to play. Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a ‘culture of care’ and an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.” Previous administration heeded this call. New regime calls it socialism, denies his divinity, and does exactly the opposite. Let’s see what new American Pope Leo XIV has to say about it. As Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost he opined, “We need to hear more from leaders in the Church, to reject racism and seek justice,” and weighed in on X already severely critical of entire leadership, their migrant contempt, religious heresies, and vaccination eschewal. Gates Foundation cut childhood deaths and diseases worldwide in half by distributing free vaccines. Catholic adults number about 53 million, 30% of potential voters, not that they always align with papacy or cast ballots on conscience.

Mandela Effect has masses of people believing a false narrative, such as civil rights activist and hunger striker Nelson Mandela died in prison, when he actually survived bigoted apartheid, cruel Musks, and decades of undeserved detention to serve as The First President of South Africa. Conversely, a shamanistic mandella is a decorative dreamcatcher derived by first nation people from a ceremonial shield. Similarly named mandala is a circular Buddhist artifact meant to focus upon the Universal Wheel of Life: emergence, existence, purpose, recurrence. You could easily get confused among these homologous hypotheses. Or double your fun or pleasure by living your life on a real wheeled wonder. According to O’Brien’s Third Policeman, riders’ molecules merge with bicycles; therefore this delight by design can also fight to be seen in full light.

Hypocritical Republicans hypnotized a third of American voters into affirming hype of a purloined election, The Big Lie, while updating their McCarthy/Nixon enemy list with those they always accuse: Authors, dissidents, educators, journalists, judges, lawyers, leftists, news media, political scientists, protestors, students, visa holders, vulnerable innocents, and whoever might debunk boldface lies, refute insane delusions, and unmask fascist propaganda. Toilet Paper USA wants to wipe campuses and schools squeaky clean from whatever doesn’t support patriarchal white supremacy. Bears mention, but totally had it hearing of such deplorable, harmful, and serial behaviors.

Do-nothings of both parties did head every government agency and ran up huge public debt before revenge term of Felon 47, but their firings were intended to curtail public services and destroy each agency, not to punish them personally. With no mandate after a rigged election and recording lowest poll numbers ever 100 days into office, he now boasts of quixotic victories, dares to proclaim he “rules the world”, and expects to banish everyone who fails to further his megalomaniacal ambitions. Huh! He’s supposed to serve American people not self having amassed billions in personal enterprises that monetize presidency, like selling US visas to drug lords for $5 million and White House stays to foreign adversaries. He hasn’t paid the half billion he owes in court judgments. Absolute power corrupts absolutely; constitution limits executive power far more than he’s willing to stomach. Poison to everything he touches, even McDonald’s sales have plunged since he “worked” there.

Relentlessly ridiculing this lying Gemini social butterfly just promotes his schtick and solidifies sympathies among his idolators. Every crass antic or juvenile tantrum is another test of what he can get away with; for example, when he violated rights of Venezuelan gangsters, few minded... good riddance. Tempts you to get used to concept, normalize cruelty, and overlook a crossroads in critical thinking. But deporting doesn’t entitle incarcerating illegals, only warranted if actually convicted of crimes and sentenced to finite terms, not de facto life imprisonment under Nazi death camp conditions. But next steps were to expel a foreigner with a clean record and legal status, then four innocent children who are actual citizens, having been born here, because, according to Magastan logic, you’re not a citizen if your parents aren’t, even though Constitution expressly says otherwise. Isn’t First Lady an immigrant? Then he defies Federal Appellate and Supreme Court rulings to return them all, instigating a constitutional crisis, because Constitution doesn’t grant unilateral power to him, a convicted sociopath and suspected space alien who expects laws to exempt him alone. Historians characterize such tyrants who’ve tried these tactics as exemplary failures who’ve foreited millions of lives including their own. How many must die before 25th Amendment, Section 4, gets evoked for first time?

When usurpers defy justices, destroy rule by law, and thumb noses at coequal branches of government, America appears lawless and unattractive to asylum seekers. It’s intentional, just another deterrent to immigrants they dread, along with economic recession, homelessness, joblessness, lack of entitlements, and no safety net. Racist radical oligarchs want entire continent as their caucasian, English speaking, private country club. Arabs, Blacks, Chinese, Latinos, and members of groups other than what they consider themselves join in critical processes including farming, manufacturing, mining, sanitation, transportation, water purification, and whatever populace needs and wants. But oppressors gamble that starving workers with skills will submit to slavery for food scraps and roofs to sleep under. No, the most heavily armed population on earth will simply revolt and surely depose these despots in short order.

Ai Weiwei’s Forever Bicycles [shown] is a metal sculpture made from between 1,200 to 3,100 interconnected units meant as a homage to Shanghai’s luxury brand Forever that once cost 4 times an average worker’s monthly salary, so a fetish his family couldn’t afford to buy him as a deprived youth. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp, this perplexingly iterative “found art” concept debuted in Austin, Texas (2009), was subsequently disassembled then reassembled multiple times in varying forms, and now resides in Manitoba, Canada. Forever Bicycles contrasts notions of machines liberating riders and shackles of living within a repressed society, a metaphor for freedom versus responsibility, much like Bike&Chain. China’s most famous modern artist, with scores of large scale works and solid reputation as a human rights activist, he has an eye way way open to governmental atrocities and lies; protests against have gotten him detained or held in prison without charges, and his passport revoked.

Weiwei’s similar but smaller Forever bicycle sculpture was installed at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (2016, then 2022), as well as Artz Pedregal in SW Mexico City (2018). His tons of Sunflower Seeds (approximately 100 million handmade individual porcelain units from a town that used to make imperial chinaware) at the Tate in London (2010) was allegedly radioactive and extremely controversial for criticizing blind loyalty to an undeserving leader and consumer culture enabled by exploiting mind-numbing labor. His Alcatraz installation, including a huge colorful but confined dragon kite ready to take flight symbolizing freedom in a cage that once interred conscientious objectors, dovetails with new regime talking about resurrecting this crumbling island fortress as a prison for dissidents, another human rights violation by a fascist authoritarian bound to backfire.

If you go by bicycle, you never have to endure thaasophobia, fear of boredom, because life immediately becomes more thrilling, mostly reiterating, “You are here now,” never whining, “Are we there yet?” Pedaling through space/time makes you grateful for simple pleasures of reading, resting, and writing about your adventures. At some point in late 19th Century when god died, literary tourism by bike supplanted religious pilgrimages on foot, though both sought destinations referred to in books. On the other hand, cherophobia involves an irrational aversion to joy, often a result of letdowns and losses after having once been happy, which deters sufferers and voters from participating in fun or necessary activities. Triggers might include an equipment breakdown, lion encounter, rigged election, road accident, or stolen bike, which can be remedied once funk and rage pass.

Has criminality been rampant? Not according to crime statistics, if you discount new administration’s hundreds of egregious and unlawful acts. Has law enforcement been inefficient? Too few judges do slow due process. GOP added Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to cover stuff formerly handled by DOD and FBI. DHS runs an unhinged ICE, which kidnaps citizens, then sends to foreign prisons without constitutional rights to arrest warrant, arraignment, indictment, motions, trial, sentence, then incarceration solely in the jurisdiction where offense was committed. Deportees should be released to countries from which they came, not shanghaied to gulags elsewhere, which should be reserved for convicted drug smugglers, Latino gangsters, Russian mobsters, sex slavers, and such scumbags from those respective countries already serving time in own prisons. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) and FEMA have been jokes since rolled into DHS. USPS’s renowned reliability went down drain right after they appointed the Joyless 75th Postmaster, highest paid at $341,000/year and least successful, recently forced out, and to be replaced by another lame lackey until service is illegally privatized. Back when Congress established mail service as a constitutional right, Ben Franklin’s annual salary was $1,000, $33,500 in today’s currency, less than 10%.

Monster Summer (David Henrie, dir., 2024) leads little leaguers Devers, Reed, and Wexler (Abby James Witherspoon, Mason Thames, and Julian Lerner, respectively) to investigate numinous occurrences in their Martha’s Vineyard neighborhood. Hauntings in fact, not just fiction, are well documented there. To further case, Reed enlists retired detective Carruthers (Mel Gibson). Didn’t see but seems a low budget ripoff of Ghostbusters, Goonies, Sandlot, Stranger Things, and The Black Phone, all of which also feature bicycling teens. Might have been interested for its pro-cycling scenes if girlfriend beater gun toter Gibson weren’t involved. Besides, will already be protesting a live monster in high office come summer through No King events.

A monster challenge faces Vijay 69 (Akshay Roy, dir., 2025), who on the cusp of his 8th decade on earth decides to tackle a triathlon race: swim, bike, run. At actually 69 years old, star Anupam Kher performed his own stunts. Hindi language feel-good film won 4 awards, but will now be subjected to tariffs as a foreign produced movie, yet another attempt at intimidating jedi heroes who might defy sith control of galaxy and relay a message of hope to rebel resistance.

Blot an Inkstain

Activism advances with the first drop of ink to stain a page. Think of all those boycott handouts, homily sermons, petition forms, picket placards, political podcasts, position posters, slogan signs, and tattoo ink on stage. Whenever you want, you’re free to make a stink, even publish volumes full of outright lies and ruses in disguise. Doesn’t mean there are no consequences, though slander requires that you cause strife and name man before you need legal defenses. Famous cases as Galileo Galilei and Giordano Bruno wound up costing these truthful authors freedom and life. Wars were already and will again be fought over Bible and Quran. Whatever you pen or text can be boldly blotted, ignominiously ignored, or terroristically taken; citizens, “home grown” dissidents you probably know, might even inadvertently invite assassination or deportation to some gulag beyond Gulf of Mexico.

Better to do your duty anonymously, in silence, which is how essential business will always be conducted, despite adage, “Once all is said and done, more will have been said than done.” Goes along with, “In any project, 80% of work will be done by 20% of participants,” because corrupt louts who don’t contribute are busy claiming credit while complicating completion. Folks are largely unaware of what transpires, just rely on their needs being fulfilled. They don’t climb mountains, lead donkeys, pick beans, reconcile tariffs, route from foreign ports to local roasters, then stock in stores just to grab a cup of joe on the go. But they are responsible for improving own behaviors and state systems to avoid an otherwise predictable apocalypse. Drugs and liquor avoid issues, deaden pain, goad deeds, but leave you vulnerable to villains foisting them on you for their own gain.

Inconsistencies can indicate betrayal and redundancies reveal coercion, though conversely may show virtues of growth and tenacity. Intelligence is specifically defined by adapting to situations as they change. Life transcends stagnation upon tides of transmogrification through personal codes of conduct. You need neither forgiveness nor permission to respond with kindness, but reciprocity has limits. Cede a millimeter, monsters seize a megameter. Amorality backfires and crashes. Empathy keeps tires rolling through trenches. A just society cares for patients with defects, illnesses and injuries. If one suffers, all suffer emergencies. It’s called civilization.

"With humans it is like bicycles. Only when pedaling can they comfortably keep balance. [Beim Menschen ist es wie beim Velo. Nur wenn er faehrt, kann er bequem die Balance halten,"] - Albert Einstein, letter to son Eduard, 1930

When you stop doing, you start dying. In 8th decade but not retired, Labann still rides and writes despite joint arthritis and spiritual “authoritis”. Hit roads through 4 seasons, though outings are less long and more frequent, and weather dependent. Read every day, especially when wet deters, but really despise a lot of what’s accessible, none more than chatbox Cthulhu claptrap, as daft as rats in the wall or Rorschach fold blot tests, the diametric opposite of passionate but worrisome human communion, why conversation exists after all. You don’t need to quote geniuses to engage readers. Endowed with basic human rights, you’re entitled to choose amount, counterpoise, orientation, quality, and/or tenor of input among every other attribute. Prefer own immaculate literary tapestry covering relatable praxis, though persistence of resistance galls youth and stains recent correspondence. Nice to be involved in a solo global project full of current events and original contents that’s both devoid of cash and not for stash, so unaffected by duties, tariffs or taxes.

Rate of change in 2025 America has been cringeworthy and dizzying, intended to browbeat and cower citizens into terrifying isolated bubbles. Calling well run government programs fraudulent schemes will cause chaos and cost illegitimate DOGE bros their interloping roles. Donnis The Menace acting in contempt of courts, alienating longtime allies, breaking constitutional laws, destroying patriot families, dismantling critical functions, disrupting world trade, extorting eager apostles, misinterpreting SCOTUS decisions, rescinding contracts and programs only to rehire when public goes ballistic, usurping congressional powers, and violating oath of office will prove catastrophic for entire country including POTUS. Seems that’s the oligarchs’ end game. For half a century R in Republican signified Recession. Whiplash policy pronouncements drive markets down or up for purposes of insider investor windfalls and small shareholder losses to tune of $8 trillion. Rulers want an impoverished populace subservient to their puppet, not a proud clown who thinks he’s king. Too bad for a simian silverback not long for this world who only cares about himself, his image, and own wealth. “Ripping us off?” He never paid taxes or released filings; those who roar loudest are frequently the guiltiest whose fondest proclivity is to maraud with impunity. Kleptocrats not only routinely divert treasury assets into their offshore accounts, they want to turn US government into a private money funnel and piggy bank where they evade criminal indictment, deserved incarceration, fund restitution, and property seizure. 

What if factories close, farms fail, refineries shut, supermarkets empty, utilities cease, and web collapses? All are likely outcomes of derailing world economy. Supply chains could erode to survival mode within days or weeks; major retailers already foresee empty shelves. Whole system might have been rigged, but at least it worked a bit for stalwart majority. Once eliminated, it’ll be replaced by a minority syndicate with promising memes and thieving schemes. Revolutions arose on less. Sides will be chosen. Blood spilled. Diseases and pestilence spread. Harm will last forever. Must billions die to restore rights? Doomsaying is lazy and pathetic, though on April 2 WWIII began as a simultaneous assault on every country except Russia, a failing dictatorship heavily sanctioned. When asked why, glib excuse was the Ukraine war; why then were tariffs levied on Ukraine? America is in an actual but invisible civil war, and alleged but imaginary border wars with Canada and Mexico, with rumors of waging war against Europe in general, potentially a bid to remain in office. Nobody voted for this.

Vote suppression occurs through ballot cancelations in districts of opposing party, bans of early and mail-in votes to exclude overseas soldiers and overtime workers, condensed one-day voting, disenfranchising married women who changed their last names, districts redrawn for partisanship, impeding traffic to polls through bomb threats and other stunts, individual identity challenges, and stacking federal and state courts with judges who allow these tactics. If any sound improbable or ridiculous to you, be aware all have already occurred numerous times in every state. Conspiracy theorists claim that COVID was released on purpose to keep citizens from voting, because when fewer show up at polls Republican's small 25% minority increases its chances of winning. GOP’s disreputable VIPs play dirty, persecute mercilessly, terrorize domestically, and would terminate voting altogether if they could. If you must do this, you’re not serving oath of office, probably committing serial crimes, and should end term to endorse a public servant who’ll take your own seat before you secure a spot in hell.

One wonders if these radicals are blind to their own hypocrisy or focused on their tunnel vision agenda. “For decades, right-wing ideologues complained that any safety net offered by the government was a form of ‘social engineering’ that interfered with the ‘natural order’ of the market... highly engineered systems designed to keep money flowing upward; they cannot operate without a carefully constructed legal framework; and they largely consist of social networks of people hiring those from their demographic in-group (such as fraternity brothers) rather than being some pure and godly measure of human greatness... After enduring years of this market fundamentalist whining, it is laughable to see radical tech libertarians destroying America so they can engage in the mother of all social engineering projects.” - Jen Sorensen, 2025

Wall of Shame

Stable geniuses accept and appreciate place names originated long ago as cultural artifacts and historical reminders connecting past to present warning what worst intentions will threaten. Dictators want to rename everything [i.e., Tsaritsyn to Stalingrad] that might prompt those they wish to oppress that they physically outnumber and probably could easily overthrow these tyrants. Your real enemy is not a cruel ideology, but specific sociopaths who ignore aftermaths that cause bloodbaths. “Pleonexia... an insatiable craving to have what belongs to another... To deny and strip away what underlies society’s wellness is to shoot oneself in the foot or worse. Greed will never be a necessity, just capitalist propaganda and persistent programming used by advertisers to sell things that deplete resources and fill war chests to perpetuate evil.” - Labann Says, 2015

Juggling despair and hope describes life itself. Courage smothers doldrums. Hope acts responsibly after addressing and exposing risks, not ignoring them. Heigh ho, do go off to work to dig into salacious dirt, mine diamonds, and nurture growth. Never going to be famous if you lack heroic credentials and pack paragraphs too densely. Public consensus can inform an appropriate resistance to un-American, pro-Putin authoritarianism. Fact USA isn’t fascist is one of its finest features. Latest polls report POTUS disapproval by two out of three asked. Centuries of commitment to freedom earned its role as world leader; only oppressors want repression, slavery, and tariffs intended to leverage world’s biggest marketplace, by which they are idiotically destroying it. Are your civil rights being sold to reconcile $50 trillion in public debt and surrendered to appease foreclosing creditors and foreign foes? No, it’s an excuse to steal trillions from you all before bottom drops out, an extremist zero sum game in which even supposed winners lose everything. Burnt bridges, global stoppages, mass layoffs, and scorched earth yield needless madness. Would be exponentially simpler recover stolen funds from billionaires, who can’t spend such wealth over a lifetime, only use it to exert power over masses, and secretly offshore it all sequestering it from circulation thereby threatening your survival. Why not just cancel federal debt, cheat creditors, and collapse rackets? It’s called leveling the playing field, and it’s required at increasing intervals.

Balance is one of 6 basic human senses along with hear, see, smell, taste, and touch. Balance in all its forms - essay length, exercise/rest, health homeostasis, justice scales, Lagrange points, ledger sheets, mathematical equality, moderation always, personal composure, posting frequency, prudent judgment, reasonable reciprocity, relationship harmony, right gear to shift into, sangfroid presence, self control, staying upright, steady handedness, things owed versus owned, universal equilibrium, wealth evenness, ZPG - is a faculty bicycling strengthens more than anything else in which you might engage, as well as a stimulant to all human bodily responses, up to 53 in total depending how you define them.

As described by ecopsychologist Dr. Michael J. Cohen’s List, Labann can personally testify to fearing death in traffic and feeling gravity’s pull on demanding climbs and screaming descents. Removed from cycling situation, you notice neither as much. Of course, integral to bicycling experiences are bonking for lack of sweet glycogen, hearing noises vacuum packed motorists don’t, meditating dreamily, navigating space, noting weather, seeing everything, sensing time passing or unseen presences, shivering in cold, smelling aromas from dung to petrichor, soaking up heat, sporting for adventure’s sake, surviving dangers, sweating back humidity, tasting whatever’s in the air, and thinking logically. But pupation? Wrapped in lycra might you resemble a butterfly metamorphosing beyond former self? Bicycling heightens awareness of all that occurs, once happened, or possibly could, and with that obligates one to pass observations along. Your opportunity to find wellness, follow your instinct to belong, and reconnect to nature looms, according to League of American Bicyclists. National Ride a Bike Day is May 4th. Bike to Work Week is May 12th to 18th with Bike to Work Day on 16th.

Poli-Urethane

“Father, father, we don't need to escalate. You see, war is not the answer for only love can conquer hate. You know we've got to find a way to bring some lovin' here today. Picket lines and picket signs: Don’t punish me with brutality. Talk to me so you can see, oh, what's going on... Everybody thinks we're wrong; but who are they to judge us simply 'cause our hair is long?” Al Cleveland, Obi Benson, and Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On, What’s Going On, Tamla, 1971 - Protest song inspired by police brutality on Bloody Thursday in Berkeley hit #1 among Billboard R&B singles, made money for Live Aid chartities, and was covered profitably several times.

Bike&Chain exists because of marginalized bicycling culture, and recognizes “Fertilization Administration” has declared war on citizen cyclists, independent women, and public servants, so any program that supports lane designations, reproductive rights, or safety nets is now forfeit unless they unite to fight. Not to justify latest tirades to youths, culture inseparably intertwines with politics, though often authors won’t admit it. Small shop owners as Aaron Johnson of GoGrava must react to de minimis shutdown and new tariffs. Seems politics at its core tries to score through biased polls, deliberate lies, and varnished truths. David Nyberg debates, “Deception appears to be normal... a workday attribute of practical intelligence,” though ethics advise elsewise on sticky evidence. Mucilaginous polyurethane dries into several bike components including apparel cloth, bar tape, helmet inserts, inner tubes, pump gaskets, saddle shells, and such accoutrements. You're not a thane just because you back a baby daddy dictator politically, have assets worth billions, and want to be called a doge or minister; you must get elected first to govern or represent nation's constituents.

Bike Radar compiled a list of Best Cycling Books 2025, and said it’s for “cycling bookworms”; instead, most titles would only appeal to endurance athletes and wannabe racers rather than poli sci majors. Even James Hibbard’s The Art of Cycling (Quercus, 2021, 320 pp.), previously reviewed, has nothing to do with art or culture at all, rather what’s in it mentally for you, though more recently published than bulk of titles they recommend. By assembling citations and specifying contexts you elevate importance of items probably beyond their worth. Not surprisingly, Labann’s noncommercial volumes were again overlooked.

Zachary Mooradian Furness, Put The Fun Between Your Legs! The Politics and Counterculture of the Bicycle "(University of Pittsburg, 2005, 228 pp.) - Peer reviewed doctoral dissertation includes an extensive bibliography and short filmography, and touches upon all historic points of bicycle advocacy. “My analysis is focused upon the politics of cycling in the United States... largely based upon a critique of car culture, and with it, the ideological assumptions that inform our labor practices, consumption habits, uses of technology, and our relationship to our material world... important to analyze because globalization has resulted in the mass exportation of American culture and economics to other parts of the world.” Dicatators hate that, so VOA was just silenced. Must’ve been something in the air, since Bike&Chain also had been written by then.

Treatment equality among bicyclists, motorists, and pedestrians has been federal law since 1990, but same old culture war persists after decades. Federal Highway Administration officialy reaffirmed in 2010, "Because of the benefits they provide, transportation agencies should give the same priority to walking and bicycling as is given to other transportation modes." Federal regulations prohibit planners from impeding bicycling or severing routes bicyclists use during new construction; bridges must accommodate bicycling and walking. Despite long established guidelines, mounting lawsuit losses, and repeated court injunctions, new regime bullies onward, defies constitution, and ignores observance. But such criticism assumes normality and precedents one hopes, not criminality and disobedience from public servants. Charity directors, law enforcers, and school teachers who witness incivility may somethimes turn into misanthropes. Government officials are supposed to work for your reciprocal cooperation and toward your best interests. Seems cabinet of April fools, Mad Hatter, and March Hare rather make millions of resentful antagonists. Better consider what they do, not believe what serial liars say, to those they harm.

Ken Avidor, Bicyclopolis (2017, 98 pp.) - Intricate bike-centric graphic novel 17 years in the making was self published by this Minneapolis based cartoonist, first mentioned in March of 2011 while still being developed. Through a time travel theme, Avidor predicts where demented environmental and political abandonment lead. Amidst a global climate crisis, it’s not the time to shutter NOAA or withdraw from Paris Accord.

DeFranzy, Cycling is Freedom [German pop], single video, self, 2018 - Just so, suffragette, and when they begin to infringe upon basic motility, call it what it is: verboten slavery, vicious repression, or vote suppression. In a democracy, everyone gets a vote, women in majority foremost, unless theonomic ideology of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaiden’s Tale comes to pass as a direct consequence of Project 2025. Can’t happen here? Read Genesis 29:29. Already has with sex slaves, toxic bros, and worse offenses upon horizon.

Adonia E. Lugo, PhD, Bicycle / Race: Transportation, Culture & Resistance (Microcosm Publishing, 2018, 192 pp.) - Cultural anthropologist defines “mobility justice”, and discusses racial discrimination and sustainable transport. Gets Labann thinking of how bicycles are stolen and vandalized less often than cars, with a huge black market for catalytic converters, quarter panels, and wheel rims to fulfill. Bicycles don’t suit lazy thieves, who'd rather plunder US Treasury, world's biggest target. "Infrastructure neglect" is just another tactic to funnel funds their way. Senator Booker's filibuster set record straight: American people are in charge.

“In mid-2018, women in Saudi Arabia gained the freedom to ride a bicycle, and the efforts of women’s activists such as Baraah Luhaid played a part in this, as she established Spokes Hub... We often see the bicycle just as a form of transport, but it’s much more than that; it’s a classless item that billions of different people across the globe own.” Zain Hussain, The bicycle: a symbol of unification, Medium magazine, 2019 - So, Saudi women are bestowed this right a century later than Americans and Europeans? Wow!

Ken Avidor, Courier, single video, self, 2019; short animation related to a future dystopia where bicycle couriers have to deliver food to front line battle zones instead of Door Dash, Grubhub or Uber Eats after petroleum paradigm crashed. First in a series where sabotage hero poses as a bicycle courier.

Avidor Family Singers, My Bike is Freedom, single video, self, 2020 - Short Ken Avidor animation with an original song. Bicycling is the fifth freedom, along with freedoms from tyranny and want, and of religion and speech, all of which are at risk under authoritarian attack.

Max Whittle, Cycling is Freedom, single video, self, 2020
It’s a sentiment that adheres longer than orange facepaint, more like steadfast shellac.

Peter Cox and Till Koglin (editors), The Politics of Cycling Infrastructure: Spaces and (In)Equality (Policy Press, 2020, 261 pp.) - “Physical infrastructure is currently posited as the primary key to unlock cycling’s potential as a primary mode of sustainable transport... Governance mechanisms that provide for and respond to citizen voices... recognize the need for and implement change... Infrastructure is never neutral and always inherently political.” Most articles in this anthology based analyses on European cities. In USA, conservative congressmen aren’t even holding public forums anymore.

Some American mayors brazenly act out their bicycling abhorrence. According to Jody Rosen’s article The Bicycle as a Vehicle of Protest, (The New Yorker, 2020), “N.Y.P.D. has a long history of hostility to cyclists... police have used questionable, sometimes violent tactics to sweep up participants in Critical Mass, the guerrilla group rides that aim to promote cyclists’ rights... Transportation issues are social-justice issues... American bike riders [are] of all races and backgrounds, but... The term ‘invisible riders’ has gained currency among critics who decry the marginalization of black, brown, female, and working-class cyclists by establishment activists.” Bike boom at the time kept reluctant bus riders moving alternatively, minimizing recession effects of pandemic quarantines.

Chris Watson, The Bicycling Guitarist, pedals beyond politically correct into some sort of unbalanced chauvinist rant while playing original tunes, poising himself and his Stratocaster guitar, and riding his 1977 Schwinn Sportabout 10-speed in circles.

The Bicycling Guitarist fea. Chris Watson, Repoman, Elektra’s Room, self, 2020 “Oh, Repoman. He likes my band. So I guess my Schwinn is safe from being repossessed. That means it was possessed more than once. Possessed and depossessed, then repossessed. But, fortunately, fortunately it's an ‘exorcise bike’.” Among a half dozen albums, this oddly appears to be only song that directly references bicycling.

American cycling team gets Trapped Inn (Leah Sturgis, dir., 2024) at a remote European mountain lodge; teammates then start unexpectedly dying. Taps into contagion angst. Peloton protagonists Connor (Matt Rife) and Greg (Robert Palmer Watkins) compete to solve this otherworldly mystery. Horror film genre merely mirrors and woefully understates what's now actually occurring because of DOGE meddling in earned benefits, established services, and foreign aid.

Heartfelt 2024 testimony from Claire Pomykala of Living By Bike declares that bicycling at all is a political act. “Resist capitalist forces and lifestyles that sit, to fight status quo, to reconnect with nature, to recognize our ignorance: bicycling is inherently political... Bicycling is revolution.” Battle hardened Claire has bike-packed from Atlanta to Oz through Europe, learned hands-on loads of lore, and taught self a myriad of truths through living vulnerable to what world provides. New US administration believes it can rescind visas. restrict travel, and strip citizenship from anyone who opposes their goal to control, because laws only apply to you, not them. Bicycling is human, not conservative, liberal, or partisan; all demographics ride except abject invalids and beer swilling, coal-rolling, extreme right, fossil fuel addicted wimps, who may or may not notice X's tweet logo now includes a sieg heil salute despite billions in stockholder losses undermining temporary victory. As in all crime syndicates, fraudulent DOGE forwards same fascist agenda yet insulates felon POTUS from prosecution. Unless you're a multimillionaire, you'll pay more taxes and suffer loss of services.

Montreal, Quebec has enjoyed better bike accommodations since Claire Morissette’s advocacy in 1990’s. Yet after decades many residents still don’t get it. A short Oh The Urbanity! documentary, I Went to an Anti-Bike-Lane Revolt (Patrick Murphy, dir., 2024) shreds local misconceptions about alleged bike issues of ableism, ageism, school safety, and such notions adopted without regard of indisputable evidence to the contrary. Everyone is mistreated, some more than others, though goal is to avoid egregious examples. Bruised egos can be self inflicted, so too close to exercising personal freedoms to cure. Roads mistreat bicyclists who nevertheless ride and tolerate them.

Wes Marshall, PhD, PE, Killed by a Traffic Engineer (Island Press, 2024, 424 pp.) - A professor of civil engineering whistleblower contends that AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) guidelines aren’t wholly based on inclusive safety or sound science. “There wasn’t nearly as much science behind the numbers as the 1,000-page manuals make it seem.” No sh*t! says Labann, who spent decades battling bull and writing manuals. Since 1899 when they began counting vehicle crash fatalities, 4 million Americans have died, many times that globally, more Americans than all military conflicts in which they fought including founding revolution. Best laid plans of Three E’s - Education, Enforcement, and Engineering - are rife with shortcomings among texting, tired, and twisted motorists, planners, and police.

“Asking Americans to sacrifice their beloved cars is not a winning political message, but helping them rediscover something they love more can change the world.” Steven Goodridge, The Conservative Case for Walking and Bicycling, Medium magazine, 2024 - Informative article appends a nice bibliography. Could continue with citations and contexts, but do conclude politics concern cyclists. It's too easy to round out paragraphs with so many asinine, bizarre, criminal, and despicable executive fiats signed daily, then immediately struck down by courts as illegal and unconstitutional. Forever forward, forge past onto next spin session and subsequent post toward velorution.