By J. S. O'Keefe
“Sir, are you or have you ever been a member of the underground terrorist organization known as PAAP?”
“Yes, senator, but PAAP is neither terrorist nor underground. We are a multi-ethnic multi-faith charity group, and most of our activities involve…”
“Yes or no, please. Is that true that PAAP stands for the inflammatory statement - let me read it, these are not my words — Palestinians Are Also People?”
“Yes, senator, but I don’t understand why that…”
“Yes or no, please. So let the record show, your answer was yes, you still insist that Palestinians are also people.”
“Yes, senator, I do.”
“Do you or have you ever supported Black Lives Matter, better known as BLM?”
“Yes, senator, initially I did. Then I lost interest when the news surfaced their leaders had used large parts of the contributions to buy themselves houses in highly affluent neighborhoods. Of course, I still firmly believe black lives matter, all lives matter, including Palestinian.”
“Well, that was a lengthy yes-and-no answer. Anyway, no more questions, thank you for your cooperation. It’s clear that you refuse to disavow PAAP, and you remain ambivalent or ambiguous, whatever is the right word, on BLM. I believe we have established enough evidence that we can refer you to the Citizenship Removal Committee. I know currently they’re busy with millions of Hispanic cases, but they should be done with those by tomorrow this time.”
“Senator, may I point out I was born in the United States? My grandparents immigrated to this country from Sweden.”
“Ever read the news? Birthright citizenship ended months ago.”
About the Author
John O’Keefe
J. S. O’Keefe is a scientist, trilingual translator and writer.
His short stories and poems have been published in Roi Faineant, Scribes*MICRO, Every Day Fiction, AntipodeanSF, 101 Words, Microfiction Monday, 50WS, Friday Flash Fiction, Medium, Paragraph Planet, 6S, WENSUM, Spillwords, Satire, etc.
You can find out more at his website: <https://www.szjohnny.net/>
Our weekly podcast features the stories from recently published issues, often narrated by the authors themselves.
My time at Nambucca Valley Community Radio began back in 2016 after moving into the area from Sydney.
Geraldine Borella writes fiction for children, young adults and adults. Her work has been published by Deadset Press, IFWG Publishing, Wombat Books/Rhiza Edge, AHWA/Midnight Echo, Antipodean SF, Shacklebound Books, Black Ink Fiction, Paramour Ink Fiction, House of Loki and Raven & Drake
Margaret lives the good life on a small piece of rural New South Wales Australia, with an amazing man, a couple of pets, and several rambunctious wombats.
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Mark is an astrophysicist and space scientist who worked on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn. Following this he worked in computer consultancy, engineering, and high energy research (with a stint at the JET Fusion Torus).
Emma Louise Gill (she/her) is a British-Australian spec fic writer and consumer of vast amounts of coffee. Brought up on a diet of English lit, she rebelled and now spends her time writing explosive space opera and other fantastical things in
Barry Yedvobnick is a recently retired Biology Professor. He performed molecular biology and genetic research, and taught, at Emory University in Atlanta for 34 years. He is new to fiction writing, and enjoys taking real science a step or two beyond its known boundaries in his
Tim Borella is an Australian author, mainly of short speculative fiction published in anthologies, online and in podcasts.
Ed lives with his wife plus a magical assortment of native animals in tropical North Queensland.
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