“There’s A Bad Moon On The Rise”
Posted: May 22, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 6 January Insurrection, Evil, Founding Fathers, history, Income Taxes, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), news, The Anti-Weaponization Fund, United States Constitution, War Powers Act Leave a comment
Rioters clash with law enforcement officers as the insurrectionists try to force their way into the Capitol to assault elected officials and to overturn a free and fair election on January 6, 2020. They were acting with the encouragement of Donald J. Trump who now wants to pay them for their actions. (Getty)
I am beyond outraged. Beyond disgusted. I am at the point where if everyday Americans do not realize that there is a direct and sustained assault on our democracy then maybe they do not want to preserve the nation that we have spent nearly 250 years building “in order to create a more perfect union.” Apparently, the United States Constitution is about as valuable to some people as the “terms of service” are for those that want to get on a website. Check the box but do not bother to read or understand the words.
As I warned in my last post on 17 May, we are, without a doubt, experiencing the biggest assault on our values and cherished way of life. Trump and his henchman Acting Attorney General and General Trump Lackey Todd Blanche officially announced that they created a 1.776 billion dollar slush fund to pay off those that do his bidding — whatever it is, including violence like the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2020. According to Trump, these “patriots” have “suffered” enough from their “persecution” during the Biden administration. The very same ones convicted at trial by a jury of their peers.
This is the biggest, most corrupt attempt to date to destroy our democracy and to ensure that one man stays in power unconstrained by rules, regulations or laws. Not only is it unprecedented in our history, it sets a new precedent for the future that completely overrules the Constitution. The most obvious result of this assault is that it completely castrates Congress and the one power that they used to jealously guard — the power of the purse. Appropriations and authorizations for government spending come from the Congress and only the Congress. It is the one sure way that they have to check the power of the Executive Branch. With this move, Trump completely obliterates that process. If Trump gets away with this blatant disregard of the Constitution then there is nothing to stop him and other Cabinet members from declaring that they need money from the Treasury for whatever purpose they see fit. Congress be damned. It is open season on using taxpayer money for anything that the president wants.
I am not sure which is worse. Is it Trump’s constant lying about the “stolen” 2020 election; the claim that those who attacked law enforcement officers were “peaceful protesters” who were framed by the Biden administration and became “political prisoners;” or the lie that the attack was orchestrated by “leftist ANTIFA” organizers in coordination with the FBI; or that the “Russia, Russia, Russia hoax” was designed to injure Trump? All are bogus claims that have been debunked over, and over, and over, and over again. Besides the fact that these events occurred during the Trump administration under people that he appointed and that many of the investigations included Republicans, as for example the report of the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Senator Marco Rubio, now Trump’s Secretary of State.
In other words, the going in premise of Trump’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is built entirely on lies. That may be the biggest insult of all. On top of that, the five commissioners will be appointed by his General Lackey Todd Blanche but can be fired for any reason or no reason by Trump. The payments and who receives them are kept from the public. Anyone can apply. The process for applying is unclear as of this writing.
I think the real reason that Trump keeps harping on these issues is not about the past — although there is an element of retribution against those who resisted him — it is actually about the future. In essence, he is declaring that going forward you can do anything, anything at all, if it is done in the name of Trump and advancing his agenda. Exhibit A will be the J-6 insurrectionists. They were pardoned, and now they are looking to get paid. It is totally transparent and transactional. One mission and one mission only, do Trump’s bidding and be rewarded. To go full circle, the implication is also that if you do act on Trump’s behalf and he loses power, you will be left hanging in the wind. Do not take the chance on somebody that will not treat you as well as Trump.
I am not an attorney. However, even the most casual observer can spot things in this agreement that are patently evil, immoral, and unlawful. First, it is being called a “settlement.” There was nothing to settle as Trump’s law suit never went to court. The judge involved expressed serious doubts that there was even a case and empowered a panel of esteemed lawyers to provide an opinion back to her as to their view. Nearly every knowledgeable law expert declared that the federal government (the president) cannot sue the federal government (the IRS) when both are in the Executive Branch. There may be an “agreement” between the parties but there is no settlement.
Hidden in the paperwork is an interesting twist. The day after the original agreement was announced, an addendum was released that says in part (with the all CAPS in the original), “the United States RELEASES, WAIVES, ACQUITS and FOREVER DISCHARGES each of the Plaintiffs from, and is hereby FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing” just about everything for Trump, his extended family and every entity organization or subsidiary or really, anything he has ever touched. It is widely believed that Trump is already on the hook for 100 million dollars from past income tax filings. This agreement makes it clear that the IRS will not pursue that money and that “FOREVER” he is immune to any other investigations. In plain language, he, his family and a host of others associated with him will never have to pay a dime in income taxes. Even if he owes taxes, no one can prove it because he cannot be investigated. A ticket to fraud.
These provisions may violate the law. After the investigations into the Nixon White House, several provisions were enacted governing the IRS. The U.S. Code states explicitly that it is unlawful for the President, the Vice President, or any Executive Office employee to directly or indirectly request the IRS to conduct or terminate an audit of any specific taxpayer. Additionally, IRS regulations require an automatic audit of a sitting president’s tax returns. How these requirements will play out under the new agreement is beyond me. However, Trump regularly disregards any law, rule or regulation that he finds inconvenient.
There are already multiple lawsuits filed to stop this brazen looting of taxpayer dollars. Unfortunately, given the lack of anticipation that such a thing was possible, some legal experts speculate that it may be difficult to bring cases to court because of a lack of standing to do so. It may be wrong, it may be evil, but under current law it may not be illegal.
Yesterday several members of the House and Senate, Republican and Democrat, had their hair on fire over this agreement. They were outraged. Additionally, both houses of Congress were moving to invoke the War Powers Act to rein in Trump in Iran. Maybe, finally, some pushback against Trump’s excesses? We may never know because as things started to unwind yesterday, the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader in the Senate abruptly adjourned their respective bodies and sent everyone home not to return until 2 June. Who knows what shenanigans will occur in the interim?
I am ever more convinced that we are in big trouble as a democratic republic. Many of our fellow citizens want to return to the “before times.” Let’s get back to where our country was before Trump, they argue. I increasingly disagree. We did that once with the Biden administration. Look what it got us. Trump 2.0 — an even worse situation. If we have learned nothing over the last few years, our Founding Fathers belief that given a chance, people of good will and the interests of the people in mind would do the right thing, was fundamentally wrong. They built in checks and balances but could not anticipate that Congress would abrogate their responsibilities and that an evil man would be aided and abetted by other evil men and women to take advantage of every conceivable loophole to enhance their own wealth and power. When given the chance — I still believe we will get the chance — we have to strengthen our laws to protect against a future Trump. We did not do it before, thinking that 2016 was a one off. We now know better.
With apologies to Creedence Clear Water Revival
I see the bad moon a-risin’
I see trouble on the way
I see earthquakes and lightnin’
I see bad times today
Don’t go around tonight
Well it’s bound to take your life
There’s a bad moon on the rise
WILL JIM CROW RIDE AGAIN?
Posted: May 11, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Divisiveness, Elections, Gerrymander, gerrymandering, history, Jim Crow, Louisiana v Callais, Partisan, Politics, Poll Tax, Project 2025, United States Constitution, Voting Rights Act of 1965 Leave a comment
A receipt for $2.50 paid by a black man in Alabama for the poll tax during the Jim Crow era. When the average worker was making only about three hundred dollars a year, this was a significant amount. Additionally, black voters were often required to take a literacy test with questions such as reciting specific phrases in the Constitution or answering “how many windows are in the White House?” Other “tests” involved guessing specifically how many jelly beans were in a jar.
Last month the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) handed down a 6-3 decision in the case of Louisiana v Callais. The decision eviscerates Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act created by Congress to protect minority voters from poll taxes, literacy tests or any other effort to undermine their ability to vote. The law was aimed at the parts of the country where racism was rampant and where there were concerted efforts to suppress or eliminate the vote of non-white citizens. The Voting Rights Act was renewed numerous times over the years with solid bi-partisan support. The last vote in Congress in 2006 renewed it for twenty five years with both the Senate (98-0) and the House (390-33) overwhelming voting for it. What happened since then to cause its effective demise? President Obama was twice elected president. The court severely weakened the Act in 2013 by eliminating a key provision of the law in the case of Shelby County v Holder which required states in certain areas to get permission from the Department of Justice before making changes to voting requirements. The most recent case finished off the effectiveness of the law by deciding that race could not be taken into account when drawing districts and that in fact, gerrymandering — altering the districts so that the political parties are choosing elected officials rather than the people choosing their representatives — was perfectly permissible. The provision protecting against gerrymandering designed to divide minority (non-white) voters in order to limit their ability to elect minority officials was deemed unconstitutional.
[Note: The word gerrymander comes from 1812 Massachusetts where Governor Elbridge Gerry approved a voting map with a salamander shaped district. The name stuck. It means purposely drawing voting district lines in anyway possible, even if the result on paper looks ridiculous, to give an incumbent or a particular group of people a significantly unfair advantage in determining the results of an election.]
An 1812 political cartoon demonstrating the appearance of the gerrymandered election district of South Essex in Massachusetts. Editors satirized the shape of the new district as that of a monster.
Republicans were jubilant over the new interpretation of the law. Take a look at the video of state legislators in Tennessee as they eliminated the only remaining minority-majority district in the state by dividing it into parts and reassigning them to strong Republican districts. They were giddy. To me, their reaction and subsequent actions demonstrates exactly why the Voting Rights Act is still needed. SCOTUS cherry-picked the Obama election results — and only those results — to declare that it proved that there were no longer impediments to minority voting. According to Justice Alito writing for the majority, racism in U.S. elections is gone.
Despite the claim that the provisions are no longer needed, the actions of several southern state legislatures show exactly why it is needed. Louisiana’s governor immediately canceled an election (the mid-term primaries) that was already underway. He declared a state of emergency and then canceled the election so that the map could be redrawn in an attempt to eliminate two districts that were represented by minorities. Absentee ballots and mail-in ballots had already been distributed and roughly 40,000 votes were already returned. Now the process is going to start again with new districts and new candidates in some areas. Surely no one will be confused by that. After the SCOTUS ruling, Tennessee acted immediately to redraw their map. Florida, North Carolina and Georgia are also gerrymandering the map to eliminate minority districts. Alabama, South Carolina and Missouri have plans to do the same. Texas gerrymandered their districts last summer at the direction of Trump.
Two other states decided to do the same after the Texas effort. California redrew their map last fall and this spring, Virginia did the same. Both states did so after the voters approved the measures. After the votes were counted and the issue settled, the Virginia Supreme Court rendered the vote void on a technicality. It is unclear as I write whether the voice of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia will have their voices heard or have to live by the result of the 4-3 decision.
States with “blue” governors held elections to see if their citizens wanted to fight back against the attempts to rig the elections. “Red” states changed theirs by fiat from their MAGA dominated legislatures — no ordinary voters allowed. Normally voting maps — even gerrymandered ones — are drawn up after the census every ten years. To change them now is highly unusual if not downright outrageous.
Chief Justice John Roberts has been working to overturn the Voting Rights Act since he was a young lawyer in the Department of Justice during the Reagan Administration in the early 1980s. The intent of the 1965 law was to put in the mechanisms necessary to actually enforce the 15th Amendment to the Constitution which opened up voting beyond the white land owning men that controlled elections until the Civil War. Ratified in 1870, it prohibited the federal government or any state from denying or abridging a citizen’s right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The now Chief Justice has been arguing for decades that some states are treated to far greater scrutiny than others under the law which he considered unfair under the concept of equal sovereignty. He also holds a strict interpretation of the Constitution and believes that the Voting Rights Act is not impartial. He has argued that “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Unfortunately, that is not the reality of life for minorities in this country.
Now states can defend against virtually any claim of racially discriminatory map-drawing by claiming they instead discriminated based on political parties — even though race and partisanship are often intermingled.
I am against gerrymandering and voted against gerrymandered districts in my home state. There should be bi-partisan or non-partisan commissions to draw equitable voting districts. But unfortunately there are also no unicorns. Therefore “blue” states have an obligation to counter “red” states with gerrymandered districts to try and recoup the increased number of Republican districts.
This effort is only a part of a larger effort to restrict voter protections and the push to limit turnout in the 2026 and 2028 elections. The effort is already underway to protect MAGA Republicans in Congress and in state legislatures following the deeply unpopular policies and actions of the Trump regime. The SCOTUS decision provides a roadmap for states to return to pre-1965 race discrimination in redistricting, despite Congress’s repeated and overwhelming reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act for decades.
This is the same plan that gave us the Safeguard American Voters Eligibility (SAVE) Act which I have written about in this space before. Among other provisions, it comes dangerously close to mandating that U.S. citizens must show their papers in order to prove that they are citizens. To register to vote, one must produce a valid passport or birth certificate. If passed, as it already has in the House but is facing a fierce uphill battle in the Senate, millions of people will be disenfranchised. Allegedly, it is supposed to prevent voter fraud — a phantom menace that does not exist in any meaningful way. In practice, it is voter suppression. Yesterday Trump promised to deploy an “Election Integrity Army in every single State.” There have already been discussions about placing ICE and Border Patrol forces near polling places. These are the first steps in a larger plan to interfere with the upcoming elections.
Some of these efforts are reminiscent of post-Reconstruction days from the late 1890s to 1965 where Jim Crow efforts terrorized mainly black citizens. In particular the effort was aimed at preventing Black citizens from voting through systemic, state-level legal efforts in spite of the 15th Amendment. Literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and violence drastically reduced Black voter registration. For example, in Louisiana Black voter registration plummeted from 44% in 1896 to 4% by 1904. By 1940, only 3% of eligible African Americans in the South were registered to vote. There are legitimate fears in our minority communities that our country is headed back to the bad old days. Since the last campaign many voices have been raising the alarm about the blueprint for significant changes outlined and explained in detail in the Trump Administration’s Project 2025 designed to limit or intimidate voters. Additionally, earlier this spring, Trump signed an Executive Order that if allowed, (it is currently being litigated in court) would significantly alter elections. It is an attempt to federalize key elements of the process with an eye towards the federal government determining who is qualified to vote. The Constitution puts the mechanics of voting in the hands of the states.
In the short term there will be real battles over election results and who was or was not allowed to vote. Longer term Congress can pass laws that provide national protections against discrimination of any kind in determining voting districts. It is possible to craft those laws in ways that the current objections from certain SCOTUS justices — who will control the court for years to come — can be overcome. Additionally, states can pass laws that provide their own voting protections as a back up to ensure free and fair elections.
To date Trump has made no secret of his intent to interfere in multiple ways with the upcoming election. We should believe him. Do not ever forget that he already tried to overturn a free and fair election, including inciting violence. There is every reason to believe that he will do it again.
The Grifter-In-Chief: A Sampling
Posted: May 10, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Donald Trump, Fourth of July, Graft, Grift, history, Politics, Sesquicentennial, Taxes, Trump, Trump Brand, UFC, White House Ballroom Leave a comment
The official poster unveiled in the Oval Office on 11 April 2026 announcing the UFC Freedom 250, an upcoming mixed martial arts event from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). It is scheduled to take place on June 14, 2026, (Trump’s birthday) on the South Lawn of the White House in “honor” of our country’s 250th celebration of the Declaration of Independence. There will be 5,000 seats on the White House grounds of which most will allegedly go to members of the military. There will also be “High Roller VIP” tickets for the grounds that can be had for a bribe of 1.5 million dollars. The plans include space for 80,000 more spectators to watch the fights on big screens on the Ellipse. Nothing says “America!” like a cage fight in the eight sided fenced enclosure known as the Octagon.
True to his reputation as the Grifter-in-Chief, Trump is putting his name on sesquicentennial celebrations and commemorative souvenirs meant to celebrate our nation’s historic celebration. However, it only goes along with all of the other attempts he made or is working on to leave his brand on much of the federal government. If you consider yourself an Emperor, then you deserve to have great monuments built in your honor. It doesn’t matter if you have what some might describe as grotesque taste — certainly tacky comes up short — because you are the knower of all things. For those that may have not been keeping track, here in no particular order, are some of the things Trump has “branded” without our consent, and usually using taxpayer dollars.
- Passports. The State Department will begin issuing passports with Trump’s face filling the inside page and sporting his signature in gold. Alas, it will only be available to those renewing their passports in person in Washington D.C.
- National Park Passes. George Washington now shares his image with a picture of Trump on The National Park Service’s annual America the Beautiful park pass. The Park Service had to amend its rules to prohibit the many pass holders from “defacing” the cards by putting wildlife pictures, smiley faces or other types of additions to cover Trump’s face.
- Commemorative Coins. A 24-karat coin featuring Trump was approved by the Department of the Treasury and will celebrate our 250th birthday. I suppose it is because he was so instrumental in the founding of our country.
- U.S. Currency. Trump’s signature will appear on paper currency, as announced by the Department of the Treasury to honor the “historic achievements” he has made. It will be the first time in American history that a sitting president’s name appears on actual money. There are also plans for a Trump one dollar coin to be minted with his face on it.
- Giant Portraits. There are multi-story sized banners on multiple U.S. federal buildings featuring Trump including the Department of Labor, Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice.
- Renamed Buildings. Trump added his name to the Kennedy Center (his comes first, of course) and put his name (first) on the Institute of Peace. The Palm Beach International Airport is renamed for Trump, with his companies having exclusive control over many aspects of the commercial enterprises there, copyrighted use of his initials, and exclusive merchandising rights for airport items sold outside the terminal.
- Immigration. Trump Gold Cards, Trump Corporate Gold Cards and Trump Platinum Cards are available to wealthy individuals and organizations that allows them privileges in the U.S. not available to other immigrants if they pay a
bribelarge fee to attain them. - Trump Class Battleships. This spring Trump announced a new class of ships for the U.S. Navy that will be named for Trump. The cost for one ship is estimated at 17 billion dollars. Rumors indicate that the recently fired Secretary of the Navy was let go because the program was moving too slowly for Trump’s liking. (I seriously doubt this particular ship will ever be built.)
- Prescription Drugs. TrumpRx is a new website meant to help lower the cost of prescription drugs. Drugs are not directly sold on the website but rather directly from the supplier. Insurance cannot be used to buy them.
- Investment Accounts. Beginning on 4 July, 2026 newborns can receive one thousand dollars from the U.S. Treasury to invest. The investments are known as Trump Accounts and parents can match the deposit up to five thousand dollars per year. The newborn must be a U.S. citizen and the program ends on 31 December, 2028. Some experts worry this is the beginning of privatizing Social Security.
- East Potomac Golf Course. The busiest and most affordable public golf course in the District of Columbia is being taken over by Trump to make it “a world class course.” What this means to the average citizen is still unclear. It is the most popular course in the District for the public. The National Links Trust — a non-profit — signed a fifty year lease to run the park in 2020. Trump cancelled it. Currently, 37,000 cubic yards of toxic waste from the destruction of the East Wing is being dumped on the grounds in piles that golfers must navigate around.
- The Garden of Heroes. Trump intends to take over significant areas of public parks along the District waterfront to build his park that will contain 250 statues of great Americans. This will mean taking over areas traditionally used by families and communities for recreation, picnics and other normal uses for a park such as pickup soccer games.
- The Arc de Trump. The proposed 250 foot high triumphal arch would be built at the end of the Memorial Bridge and block the view between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. It was to be completed in time for the 250th celebration but construction is now uncertain.
- Lincoln Monument Reflecting Pool. Trump issued a no-bid contract to his golf course “pool guys” to refurbish the reflecting pool between the Washington and Lincoln Memorials. He says it cost about two million dollars but numerous reports indicate it may be as high as 6.9 million dollars. He had it painted “American Flag Blue” so that now it looks like a giant swimming pool. Oh. Yeah. He drove his motorcade through the pool. Not to it. Not around it. Through it. To “inspect.” His limousine — the Beast — alone weighs 8-10 tons. He had a full motorcade. One wonders what all that weight did to the joints between slabs that were just repaired.
- Air Force One. The Qatari luxury 747 given to Trump — apparently not to the U.S. — to use as his new Air Force One has been upgraded to meet security standards at a cost of 400 million dollars. Trump plans to keep it after he leaves the presidency.
Now for the pink elephant sucking all of the oxygen out of the room — Trump’s desecration of the People’s House which he thinks he owns. His “maximalist” style of decorating means gold trim all over the inside and outside of the White House. Everywhere. It was not enough to destroy the Rose Garden (the area is now called the “Rose Garden Club”) and making it look like a patio at most nice motels. He has put up gold graphics to name rooms and the doors are now decorated with medallions depicting his face. The dignified Oval Office looks like a gussied up New Orleans brothel (with no intent to insult New Orleans or brothels). He has placed life sized statues around the White House grounds, perhaps a preview of his Garden of Heroes. He created a “Presidential Walk of Fame” with biographies that praise his favorite presidents and denigrates and defames those he does not like.
Of course we need to talk about the ballroom designated to take the place of the already demolished East Wing. Originally it would cost 200 million dollars all paid for by “donors.” Then it went to 400 million dollars with no taxpayer money needed. Now Congress is preparing a bill that will allocate one BILLION dollars for the ballroom. Possibly in addition to the previously mentioned 400 million. They try to justify it based on national security claiming it will be a secure space for all presidents into the future to use without concern. One might ask why, if Trump is that worried about his safety that he has to have a fort separating himself from the public, does he go outside to play golf at one of his resorts nearly every weekend? (At taxpayer expense.) This may be the biggest boondoggle in the history of these United States. It is clearly meant to be monument to himself that will make future generations think that he was one great man. His actual legacy is in danger so he must create his own. At our expense. One billion dollars. But no money for starving kids, healthcare, helping the needy or making sure our schools are the best.
If you need any further proof of what he thinks of himself, take a look at this.
The 22 foot tall statue of Trump at his golf course in Florida. He claims via Truth Social that it is “The Real Deal — GOLD — At Doral In Miami” when in fact it is bronze with a gold coating. Last week a group of evangelical pastors blessed it and dedicated it. There is another such statue at Mar-A-Lago. (Photo: Adam Schupak/Golfweek)
Can I get an Amen?
The Assault on Democracy Is Underway
Posted: February 1, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Access Hollywood Tape, Customs and Border Protection, Declaration of Independence, Director of National Intelligence, Donald Trump, FBI, Fulton County Georgia, history, Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), Russia, The Epstein Files, United States Constitution Leave a comment
Demonstrators protest Immigration and Customs (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agent actions in Minneapolis. (picture by Jaida Grey Eagle for NPR)
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” An excerpt from the Declaration of Independence.
It is ironic that as we approach the 250th anniversary of our independence from Great Britain that our foundational beliefs are under attack from the government and its millions of supporters. The key members of the Trump regime, including the president himself, do not believe that it is “self-evident” that all of us are “created equal” just because we are all human beings and should be treated with respect. They do not believe that anyone other than themselves has “unalienable Rights.” Most certainly they do not believe that their power comes from the “consent of the governed.” Trump and his key supporters believe that they are in power because they deserve to be in power. It is not unlike white plantation owners in the period leading up to the civil war believing that they had a right to own slaves. They believed that humankind is naturally divided into classes. Some people are destined to be rich and powerful and others are destined to be workers, minions, slaves, tools of the powerful. This thinking is also a basic premise of the Project 2025 playbook which envisions a country run by white, rich, Christian men. Everyone else should know their place and that place is to serve and preserve the powerful. In that context, what is happening to our democracy right now should not be a surprise. They keep telling us what they are going to do and put into writing. This is their chance to “save” our country and their belief in a history of white heritage. Believe them.
Basic rights delineated in our Constitution are under ever increasing attacks. It is time to wake up. This is not a fever dream or a political statement or a scare tactic. Wishing it isn’t so is not going to stop what is happening.
In Minnesota and around the country, ICE and CBP agents continue to attack citizens and non-citizens alike. Peaceful demonstrators whose only “crime” is filming the agents attacking people are themselves being attacked with chemical weapons, beaten, arrested and, in two cases, murdered. Last week Tom “CAVA Man” Homan declared at a news conference that he planned to de-escalate the contentious interactions between the federal agents and citizens and to begin a drawdown of the 3,000 paramilitary forces in the state. At the time I wrote that it was a lie. His statements were a change in demeanor but not in policy, and it turns out he did lie. But don’t take my word for it. When asked by a reporter last Thursday if he was going to order a drawdown Trump responded “No, no, not at all.” Our civil rights will continue to be violated. If citizens are being treated like “domestic terrorists” I can only imagine what happens to the people taken into custody and placed in detention centers. From July 2025 to the end of January 2026 thirty-five people are known to have died in immigration centers. Those are the ones that the government reported.
The recent arrests of journalists in Los Angeles and Minnesota — all black, all independent — is meant to put a damper on reporting about the federal government. All were covering a protest at a church where an ICE agent was thought to be a leader. Whatever you say about the incursion, and in no way do I condone the interruption, religion is off limits under the Constitution, they were honestly covering it, not fomenting it. The Department of Justice (DOJ) went to two different judges, one at the appellate level, to get warrants. The judges refused. The DOJ then convened a grand jury to deliver an indictment. This is clearly a test case to see how far DOJ can go in prosecuting citizens for exercising their rights. Taken in conjunction with CBS and ABC paying Trump to stop lawsuits, Trump expressing his desire to get Jimmy Kimmel off the air (and he was for awhile), suing the New York Times and other media outlets and on and on, there is clearly an attempt to stifle reporters and to keep them from reporting what Trump does not want reported.
So much chaos all the time. It is easy to get overwhelmed or to give up. However, let’s not forget the Epstein files. Last Friday the DOJ released millions of documents and thousands of images. They admit that it is only half of it. Besides breaking the law, a law signed by Trump himself, purposely or carelessly the documents released identify some of the victims of the sexual abuse, but not the perpetrators. A multitude of reasons were given as to why the rest of the documents would not be released — can you spell cover up — but the most curious was that they would not release images depicting “death, physical abuse, or injury.” Well, that sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? For about half a second. Just saying that they would not release them in fact proves that such images exist. That raises a lot of questions. Who is in the pictures? What happened to them? Who killed, abused or injured the people in the pictures or videos? That such images are not released to the general public is not unreasonable, but who is investigating the circumstances surrounding them? We already know that we cannot trust the Trump DOJ to do a credible investigation that may implicate Trump or any of his well-heeled friends. Where is a credible third party to investigate them? The most recent release does not put the issue to rest. On top of all that, not only was Epstein running a child sex trafficking ring, there are plenty of hints in the documents released that he was probably also running a blackmail scheme. How can we trust that a convicted felon, adjudicated sex offender, instigator of an insurrection who is on tape bragging about groping and kissing women without their consent and saying “when you’re a star, they let you do it.” I for one, do not see how anything so far “exonerates” Trump.
Most disturbing of all, perhaps, is the FBI raid on the election headquarters in Fulton County Georgia. Fulton County is where most of Atlanta is located and where many Democrat voters live. As we all remember, it was the scene of many false, even ludicrous accusations about rigged elections. Is this part of Trump’s campaign to “prove” that he did not lose the 2020 election? Maybe. I see something worse at work.
This is clearly an effort to rig the mid-term elections this year and in 2028. It is both a trial run, and an attempt to keep Democrats from winning elections in Georgia. Most likely, the federal government will declare that they found illegalities perpetrated by the local election board and poll workers. This will cause the state-wide election board — packed with Republican supporters of Trump — to step in to ensure a “fair” election. Doubtless they will change the voting rules such as no mail-in ballots or early voting or whatever else they can come up with to disenfranchise as many potential voters as possible. An election interference wolf disguised as a free and fair election sheep. In my view, this is also a trial run for other Democrat heavy cities and states. Combine those actions with ever growing ICE and CBP agents in more blue cities and states near or around polling places acting like they currently are in Minneapolis. Intimidation leading to lower turnout. Maybe even using them to confiscate ballot boxes. The possibilities are endless. We now know the intricate, detailed and long standing plan for him to void the 2020 election that culminated in an attempt to overturn the government and planned to hang the Vice President and murder the Speaker of the House. He’s already done it once. Why would anyone think he won’t do it again? No one, including me, thought that he would try to overturn an election through violence. We were wrong. We cannot be wrong again. Last month in a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times Trump said that “I should have” had the National Guard seize ballot boxes in 2020. This is a direct assault on all of us as a nation.
To make matters ever more unsettling, Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) was there during the FBI raid in Fulton County. The DNI is responsible for all intelligence from throughout the government agencies and has no direct connection to the FBI. She is not empowered to oversee domestic law enforcement. She is, however, a known conspiracy theorist who believes all sorts of incredible falsehoods. She is also known to be a Russian sympathizer. Was she investigating Trump’s recent claim that Italian military satellites changed votes from Trump to Biden? Apparently, “China reportedly coordinated the whole operation,” one of his Truth Social posts reads. “The CIA oversaw it, the FBI covered it up, all to install Biden as a puppet.“? (I cannot make this up. This is where we are as a country.)
I am sick of politicians, political analysts and talking heads saying that Trump’s actions are very politically damaging to the Republican Party and to Trump. They opine that the Republicans will lose in a landslide to Democrats in the mid-term elections. The pundits wonder, therefore, as to why do the Trumpists keep doing unpopular things? Because, repeat after me, THEY DON’T CARE. They are in power, control the levers of power, and they do not plan to give up anything. Perhaps ever. Recall that 147 Republicans voted against certifying the 2020 election — even after the attack on the capital on 6 January when many of them ran for their lives. Now there are even more Trumpists in Congress. These folks are serious about taking over and holding all power in the country. We should not be limited in our imagination. If you can think of it, they already have. Autocracy rarely springs into being overnight. The institutions that hold up individual rights slowly erode until they are gone. They do not evaporate in one big push, but rather in lots of smaller, more manageable pushes until such actions are normalized and then its on to the next one. We are seeing it happen now.
These are dark days. More and more people are beginning to realize how serious the threat can be. Thankfully, we are also seeing more nationwide demonstrations as people begin to push back. I hope that they continue to grow. It isn’t too late, but we can all see big trouble on the horizon.
Show Me Your Papers!
Posted: January 14, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 1984, Border Patrol, Department of Homeland Security, Donald Trump, Fascism, history, Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), Operation Metro Surge, Propaganda, United States Constitution, White Nationalism Leave a comment
A 1938 German poster used throughout the country but especially in Austria after the Anschluss or the German annexation of Austria. It translates to “One People, One Nation, One Leader!” Last Saturday the United States Department of Labor posted a video that projected the slogans “One Homeland! One People! One Heritage! Remember Who You Are, American!“
A poster placed on “X” by the Department of Homeland Security. The caption read “Protect. Serve. Deport.” This is one of a series of such posters, all depicting white men in heroic and patriotic settings, as part of their “wartime recruitment” effort.
As events in Minnesota continue to spiral out of control, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and Border Patrol (BP) agents are escalating their response to the peaceful demonstrations protesting the occupation of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Rather than de-escalating the situation and attempting to restore calm, they are using ever stronger tactics that are clearly meant to intimidate and abuse American citizens. There are believed to now be more than 3,000 federal agents in the area. That is more than the entire police departments of the two cities combined. Technically, there are two federal operations under way. One is Operation PARRIS (Post-Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening) aimed at eliminating refugee fraud — in other words, directed at the Somali population in the region. (One might ask why there is not an army of accountants deployed to the city vice ICE.) The other is Operation Metro Surge aimed at combatting “illegal immigration and crime.” As a result, many American citizens are increasingly being assaulted (choke holds, knees to the back or neck, cars broken into and the occupants drug across the ground, not to mention the unprovoked killing of Renee Nicole Good). Yesterday, Trump posted on social media at the end of a long screed aimed at the citizens of Minnesota and the denunciation of President Joe Biden, “FEAR NOT, GREAT PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA, THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!” (All caps in the original. Because, of course….) In fact, the post was meant to intimidate American citizens, not to calm their fears.
The 1930’s style posters I displayed above are only a fraction of those in use by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor. They have also taken famous paintings by Norman Rockwell, Thomas Kinkade, Morgan Weistling and other artists and used them, without permission, in posters with words and slogans not intended in the originals, despite protests and condemnation by the families and estates of the artists. It is pure propaganda promoting a vision of America that never existed except in the minds of those yearning for something they never experienced. The images and phrases clearly leave no room for the diverse society we now have in the United States. It subtly, or not so subtly, promotes a “pure” nation of white Christian nationalists with men clearly in charge. All “others” are not welcome. The message to those that protest the deportations and thug like tactics of federal agents is that such people are not true Americans and are in fact, enemies to be defeated, humiliated and brutalized — maybe even rounded up and imprisoned. It is no accident that Renee Good was immediately branded a “domestic terrorist.” There will be no investigation into the shooting by the Department of Justice (DOJ), only into the background of Renee Good and her widow who are accused of being part of a vast left-wing conspiracy to create an insurrection. As a result, at least six federal prosecutors in DOJ resigned in protest.
Wake up America! This is no accident or series of accidental events. This is a concerted effort to display the uninhibited power of the federal government to crush dissent. Support Trump and his policies or be trampled. In my view, the events in Minnesota are a dress rehearsal for ever greater repression leading up to the mid-term elections. Trump’s private para-military force on our streets is getting larger and larger everyday as they grow ever less inhibited in trying to intimidate all of us who do not support them. When they say that there will be no investigation of the shooting, when they pardon all of the January 6th insurrectionists, and they repeatedly tell the thugs in tactical gear that the administration “has their back” they are telling those agents that anything goes and that there will be no accountability. That should scare the bejesus out of all of us.
Recall that shortly after his second inauguration Trump posted on social media that “He who serves his Country does not violate any Law.” He also claimed that he would be a dictator, but “only for one day.” Last week in an interview with the New York Times he explained that he is not bound by international law or anything else. The only thing limiting his power is “my own mind.” Trump is asserting that he has unlimited authority which completely rejects the Constitution and our long political and legal traditions.
There is no law that requires U.S. citizens to always have some form of identification on them to prove that they are citizens. However, that is not stopping ICE and BP agents from demanding proof of citizenship. There are increasing numbers of videos and eyewitness accounts documenting that it is happening. If someone does not look “American” they are likely to be detained, questioned and told to provide proof of citizenship. If they do not have it in their possession at the time, they are arrested and taken away. It is happening with increasing frequency.
The “f word” has been overused in recent years — that is fascism. However, there are several examples in history that are eerily similar to what is happening in our country. Fascism is not some theoretical idea that academics debate. It is a specific political movement that prioritizes the nation over the individual and manifests through nationalism, militarism and the suppression of enemies of the state. Those enemies are particular ethnic groups, religious groups or opponents of the ruling regime. Fascism is a governing structure, it is more than just an idea. A self-declared small group of people claims ultimate authority to run the country. It disavows democratic norms and rejects equal rights under the law. Then the powerful leader fuses the power of the state with the power of big businesses and the military to run the country. The virtue of brute strength is idolized. It includes disdain for the role of women in positions of leadership and fears non-traditional sexual identities. By inventing enemies, declaring national emergencies or acting in the name of national security, their power is used to control the population. Elections are rigged and therefore of little meaning. The media is controlled to feed the population only the propaganda that serves those in power. Other “elites” — academics, journalists, opposition political parties, intellectuals and the rest — are used as targets to enrage the population by claiming that the average person has been tricked out of their share of the wealth and power by those elites.
“You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong.” “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” From Trump’s speech to his supporters on 6 January 2021.
I do not think it is inevitable that we will fall into the depths of a fascist society, but the Trump regime is sure trying to get there. Increasingly, everyday people are pushing back. I think that pushback will only grow, but it is not going to be easy to unseat the regime in power. Most importantly, that pushback must be peaceful, calm, but unyielding. The Trump regime is looking for an opportunity to crack down even more and in more areas. As the DHS army grows, more cities will be targeted. Do not be fooled by the propaganda. Thank goodness for cell phones — a statement I did not think I would make — because the videos and pictures are the easiest and best way to counter the propaganda. Stay safe out there.
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” George Orwell in the novel 1984.
Democracy In Shambles
Posted: October 21, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Congress, Demolition of the White House, Donald Trump, Government Shutdown, history, MAGA, No Kings Day, Trump, United States Constitution, White House Leave a comment
Photo from Getty Images showing the demolition of the East Wing of the White House.
Donald J. Trump — convicted felon, adjudicated sex offender and world class liar — symbolically showed us what he thinks of we, the people, of the United States. The demolition of the White House has begun so that he can build a monument to himself. Back in July, Trump said about the construction of a new ballroom that the White House itself would not be changed because the ballroom will “be near it but not touching it and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.” Yet another lie. The addition was never approved by the National Capital Planning Commission which approves changes to federal buildings, construction and the National Mall. The chairman happens to be Will Scharf who also happens to be the White House Staff Secretary and a close adviser to the president. The ballroom will be 90,000 square feet, which will dwarf the existing White House which totals only about 50,000 square feet. This is on the heels of destroying the Rose Garden so that he could put in a Mar-a-Lago style patio which he calls the “Rose Garden Club.” Somehow, I don’t think I can afford to join that club.
However, if that is not enough to show his disdain for the “The People’s House” — he seems to forget that he is merely a tenant, not the owner — check out his AI generated meme reacting to the “No Kings” rallies held in about 2,500 cities and towns with an estimated attendance of over seven million citizens of all ages, social backgrounds, religions, representing the diversity of our great nation.
This is an outtake of the video (and yes the oxygen mask is supposed to go over one’s nose as well as mouth) so as to not have to insult you with the moronic, unamusing, disrespectful, scatalogical contents of the meme. Let’s just say the aircraft has a payload that he drops on a major city and shows inhabitants of that city getting covered in poo. Apparently we have a president with the sensibilities of a ten year old.
The president. Of the United States. Don’t you feel proud?
Taken together, it shows his total disregard for our country. He is happy to spend his time sending out social media posts rather than working on re-opening the government. You know, to actually govern. His puppet-filling-space as the Speaker of the House still refuses to even talk to a Democrat about finding a solution to help the American people. Thanks to his leadership, the members of the House of Representatives have only worked 20 days since the Fourth of July. That’s quite the extended paid vacation. Yes, even though hard working TSA agents and others are working with no payday in sight, the members of the House and Senate still get paid during the shutdown. Apparently, the contents of the Epstein files must be so bad, that the president and his MAGA crowd would rather have hard working people go broke than re-open the government and risk a vote on releasing the files.
Trump pardoned nearly 2,000 rioters that attacked our national legislature with the purpose of keeping him in power while seriously injuring 140 law enforcement officers and yet he claims the mantle of being a law and order president. Therefore, it is imperative that he federalize the National Guard to go after old people in lawn chairs and folks in frog blow up costumes because they are a real threat to America.
On a positive note I met many new, kind, helpful and joyous people while attending a peaceful “No Kings Rally” in a small town that is the county seat for a heavily red, pro-Trump county in our state. It was refreshing and a quiet boost and underlined that the majority of Americans — regardless of past political associations — have tired of the antics of this administration. The Trump regime knows that it is deeply unpopular which is why they continue to lash out. They have a losing agenda. We need to turn the outpouring from over the weekend into actual political action. We have a way to go, but I cannot remember a feeling so widespread in our country that serves to unite us to protect our life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
You Might Be A Terrorist In Trump’s America
Posted: October 14, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Antifa, Discharge Petition, Domestic Terrorism, Donald Trump, Government Shutdown, history, MAGA, No Kings Day, Project 2025, The Epstein Files, Trump 2 CommentsAnd all I ever hear about is Aunt Tifa. The president, the people in Congress, all the Republicans are constantly talking about Aunt Tifa. What has she done? Why is she always in the news? I don’t get it.
The word is Antifa.
Oh. Never mind.
— With apologies to Gilda Radner as the character Emily Litella on Saturday Night Live
The late Gilda Radner was one of the best actors on the original Saturday Night Live (SNL). She captured her characters brilliantly and always made me laugh. Unfortunately, the current administration’s fixation on Antifa is no laughing matter. Antifa is short for anti-fascist. In the broadest strokes, anyone that opposes fascism is a part of Antifa. It has no organizational structure, no organized funding, no designated leaders or a chain of command. It is more of an idea. There are people who simply do not want to see authoritarianism replace our Republic. Yet, Trump and his administration and MAGA followers in Congress have come to use the phrase as a substitute for anyone that disagrees with Trump’s policies and actions. They equate it to domestic terrorism. They must be really afraid of the people that elected them.
National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence, signed by Trump on 25 September 2025, provides the cover for the federal government to investigate, surveil, or apprehend anyone that they deem as being “Antifa” — or in other words, anyone against Trump’s view of the country’s future.
Citing the murder of Charlie Kirk and other violent acts against MAGA supporters — but not the murders of Democrat politicians or supporters — the president directs that a Joint Terrorist Task Force (JTTF) be formed, bringing in elements from all of the relevant federal agencies, in order to stop political violence as he defines it. Trump thinks, or at least asserts, that there is an organized effort to oppose him through violence. As the NSPM says:
“This political violence is not a series of isolated incidents and does not emerge organically. Instead, it is a culmination of sophisticated, organized campaigns of targeted intimidation, radicalization, threats, and violence designed to silence opposing speech, limit political activity, change or direct policy outcomes, and prevent the functioning of a democratic society. A new law enforcement strategy that investigates all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies — including the organized structures, networks, entities, organizations, funding sources, and predicate actions behind them — is required.“
Under the terms of NSPM-7, which directly mentions Antifa, the definition of “terroristic activities” is described as the following:
“This “anti-fascist” lie has become the organizing rallying cry used by domestic terrorists to wage a violent assault against democratic institutions, constitutional rights, and fundamental American liberties. Common threads animating this violent conduct include anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.“
Apparently, dissent is no longer protected by the First Amendment. Under the guidelines, any individual, journalist, non-government organization (NGO) or any entity that opposes the MAGA and Project 2025 agenda is Antifa and therefore a suspected terrorist. Dissent is now considered an indicator of pre-terrorist behavior and you could be subject to surveillance or even arrested. Welcome to the America of Trump’s dreams.
Words have meaning and impact which is why they constantly talk about Democrats as the “radical left,” “terrorists,” “the enemy within,” “Marxist, communists and fascists,” and so on. Dehumanize opponents and harden the citizenry until they are numb to his hateful rhetoric. Then bring in the troops to remove all of your perceived enemies. Straight from the Autocrat 101 text book.
No Kings Day is on Saturday 18 October. Back in June, millions of Americans in small towns and big cities came out to peacefully demonstrate their opposition to the Trump regime. The same thing is expected this week. But if you listen to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson it is as an attempt to keep the government shut down (more on the shutdown later). Here are his unhinged views of the gatherings as expressed on Fox News last week:
“We’re so angry about it. I’m a very patient guy, but I have had it with these people. They’re playing games with real people’s lives. The theory we have right now: They have a ‘Hate America’ rally that’s scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall. It’s all the pro-Hamas wing and the antifa people, they’re all coming out. Some of the House Democrats are selling T-shirts for the event. It’s being told to us that they won’t be able to reopen the government until after that rally, ’cuz they can’t face their rabid base. This is serious business hurting real people.… I’m beyond words.”
There are other even more vicious lies about the peaceful rally from administration and MAGA members of Congress. They must really fear the majority of Americans who disapprove of the MAGA, MAHA and Trump policies and actions (I am never sure that Trump actually has policies. He just does whatever pops into his mind at the time. He recently declared that Joe Biden was the president on 6 January 2021. Is that a big lie or his biggest lie? Or is he simply delusional?)
It is interesting to me that they oppose peaceful national rallies against the United States having a king and demanding due process under the law, respect for our fellow citizens, and opposing authoritarianism. As I recall from grade school, this nation was founded on the desire to no longer bend a knee to a king. And while I am at it, what is wrong with Antifa as a concept? There were anti-fascists in the Weimar Republic in Germany in the 1930s. Indeed, we fought an entire world war that was anti-fascist.
Meanwhile the government shutdown continues. There are no plans to bring the House back from a prolonged vacation and no plan to work with Democrats to solve the health care issues. Only stone walling and whining about the Democrats as the enemy. Apparently Speaker Johnson fears the completion of a “Discharge Petition.” Without getting too far down into the rules of the House of Representatives, this is a path for a Representative to bring legislation to the floor without having to go through “regular order” and without the approval of the Speaker and other leaders in the House. It takes a majority of Representatives to literally sign their name to the petition and very rarely succeeds. In this session, that means 218 Representatives need to sign. They have 217 including both Democrats and Republicans. The 218th vote is waiting in the wings. Representative Adelita Grijalva (D- AZ) was elected in a special election weeks ago, but the Speaker claims that because the government is shut down, he cannot swear her into her new job. The petition is to bring legislation to the House floor to vote on releasing the Epstein files. Trump and the MAGA leadership desperately do not want that to happen. (One might wonder why if they are not covering something up?) Thus he will not swear her in. It is unclear how long this can go on, but having the government shut is a convenient excuse. Not to mention that the longer it is closed, the more that Trump and his Project 2025 henchmen Russel Vought and Stephen Miller can expand their power and take ever more extreme actions.
They are trying to press their agenda regardless of its unpopularity. Do not be intimidated. Do not be afraid. Stay peaceful. They are trying to scare anyone that opposes them. They do not understand peaceful protest. They want to rule by fear — physical threats, threats to people’s livelihoods, threats to their families.
I hope to see you on Saturday.
Morality Is the Issue
Posted: October 8, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Donald Trump, history, Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), Insurrection Act of 1807, King George III, morality, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Posse Comitatus Act, U.S. National Guard, United States Constitution, US Attorney General, US Senate Leave a commentYou’ll be back soon you’ll see
You’ll remember you belong to me
You’ll be back time will tell
You’ll remember that I served you well
Oceans rise, empire fall
We have seen each other through it all
And when push comes to shove
I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love
You’ll be back like before
I’ll fight the fight and win the war
For your love for your grace
And I’ll love you til my dying days
When you’re gone, I’ll go mad
So don’t throw away this thing we had
Cause when push comes to shove
I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love
— Part of the lyrics sung by King George III in the play Hamilton addressing the colonists during the American Revolution
Last week I was concerned about all of the un-American actions underway within the Trump Administration. My fears were not unfounded, and yet, this week promises to be even worse for those of us that believe our Constitutional Republic is worth saving. Like King George, wannabe king Trump is going to send in fully armed troops to remind us, not of his love, but of his quest for power.
It is only Wednesday and we had our Attorney General go before an oversight committee of the Senate and with full flair and drama, give the Senators the middle finger. She was insulting and her message was simple. We in the Trump Administration are in power and we do not care about your silly oversight, we are going to do whatever we want. We have the power. Try and stop us.
Today was the arraignment of the first Trump Director of the FBI. He is being charged in response to a direct order from the President of the United States as part of the president’s Revenge Tour. The case is so flimsy that no career prosecutor would touch it. Trump had to pull in a grossly inexperienced attorney with no background as a prosecutor to pursue the case. Today in the court room it looked like a clown show. And yet, the proceeding will continue, if only to humiliate and harass the former Director.
The extra-judicial murder of civilians in the Caribbean Sea continues. Trump brags about it. To date there is no evidence of any reason to kill people in small boats at sea. Again, it is merely a demonstration of pure power. It puts our military in a precarious position — if indeed it is our military that is carrying out the killings. It could be drones controlled from the U.S. or elsewhere by other federal agencies. Since the administration refuses to come clean, all we know is that our country is violating U.S. and international law.
The government shutdown continues. Whatever one thinks about this or any other shutdowns, the issue about healthcare is real. Thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill Act (BBBA) as the Republicans call it, or the Big Ugly Bill (BUG) as the Democrats call it, the impact on healthcare for over 20 million Americans is on the line. Republicans argue that the Democrats are holding the government “hostage” to give billions of dollars to illegal immigrants. It is a lie to say that undocumented immigrants will get free healthcare if the Democrats have their way. Restoring the cuts to Americans’ healthcare that are in the BBBA does not provide any federal money for undocumented immigrants. There are some limited available health care provisions for immigrants that are here lawfully. Additionally, a few states use state — not federal — funds for some health care for undocumented immigrants. Under U.S. law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, hospitals are required to treat anyone that presents to their Emergency Department with a medical emergency or in labor. Medicaid reimburses the hospital. The BBBA does not change that. However, it does reduce the amount of the reimbursement in states that have adopted expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA — “Obamacare”). That expansion, accepted or rejected by each individual state, helps American citizens to get healthcare they may not otherwise get. It also keeps hospitals and nursing homes open in rural areas of our country.
So, why care? Well, from a moral perspective when we say we care about human beings, it matters. But putting it in terms of dollars and cents, millions of Americans are going to see skyrocketing insurance premiums and some will lose their insurance. More voluntarily will drop their health insurance because they can no longer afford it and they consider themselves healthy, which means other people that want to keep their insurance — basically everyone else with insurance — will see their rates increase as well because the pool of healthy people with insurance will decrease. Much of the increased costs come with the failure to extend tax credits under the ACA which expire at the end of the year. On average, most calculations indicate that with the increase in premiums and the loss of tax credits, the average premium across the U.S. will increase by 136 percent. Some states will see much higher increases such as, for example, in Alaska the average premium will increase by 346 percent. In Mississippi it will be 314 percent. You can also expect your local emergency department to become far more crowded as people skip preventative care because of the lack of insurance and then present when they are in terrible condition. Democrats want to extend the credits, Republicans do not.
Oh by the way, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russ Vought — one of the primary architects of the Project 2025 playbook — wants to fire thousands of furloughed federal employees and has floated a proposal to not give back pay to those furloughed, despite the obligation to do so under a 2019 law enacted by Congress and signed into law by Trump.
Russ Vought is literally on a mission from God to remake the United States in his vision of a white Christian nationalist state. His co-ruler behind the Trump throne is Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, another Project 2025 devotee. These two unelected men are the real power in government right now. So let us take a look at Miller.
This week during an interview with CNN, Miller said “Under Title 10 of the U.S. Code, the president has plenary authority.” As I am not an attorney or legal scholar, I had to check what he was actually saying. It turns out that Miller has used that term before, usually in the context that Trump has the unlimited and absolute power to federalize the National Guard and use it as he sees fit. According to the Cornell University Legal Information Institute, plenary authority or power means “power that is wide-ranging, broadly construed, and often limitless for all practical purposes.” In fact, the law limits the president’s use of the National Guard to narrow circumstances such as a rebellion or invasion. This is why you hear Trump, Miller and the other henchmen in the administration increasingly using the word “insurrection.” This is why Trump and others continue to call Portland Oregon and Chicago Illinois, among others, war zones where domestic terrorists reign supreme. Or as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week at an official briefing, “President Trump will end the radical left reign of terror in Portland once and for all.”
A federal judge, appointed by Trump, stopped the use of the National Guard in Portland for now with a jarring rebuke of the president and his legal standing to send in troops in what is otherwise a peaceful situation with peaceful protesters. So, Miller turned to Chicago. Last week Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and other federal agencies attacked — and I use the word deliberately — an apartment building on the south side of Chicago by rappelling from a Black Hawk helicopter at night, using trucks to bring in other officers, breaking down doors, ransacking people’s homes and placing everyone — men, women and little children — in zip tie handcuffs and holding them incommunicado for hours. Many were American citizens. No warrant, probable cause or other emergent crisis was cited as the reason for the raid. (On a side note, why is the CBP operating in Chicago? They are supposed to only have jurisdiction within a “reasonable” distance from our borders. That distance is considered to be 100 miles from borders or coastlines. They consider Lake Michigan to be both a “border” with Canada and a coastline of the U.S.)
As of last night, federalized troops from the Texas National Guard arrived in the Chicago area. They were not requested by the governor or mayor or any other official of the state of Illinois. There was no coordination or advanced information that they were coming. Red states policing blue states by using troops without regard for the citizens living there. This is not America.
Alarm bells should be going off in all of our heads. Trump, Hegseth, Bondi, Miller, Vought and the other Trump minions are out to consolidate their power in any and every way possible. They believe that they have the power to do anything. Anything. If you disagree, then stop them they all but taunt. If you do try to stop them, you are likely be to their next target. This fight is not over. It is, however, coming to a head. Trump and the MAGA crowd know that their policies are unpopular and un-Constitutional. Their goal is to stop any dissent and to control the elections — if indeed they take place. So far the courts have had some success in keeping them in check. I do not expect the MAGA crowd to continue to follow judicial orders. The guardrails that we have depended on in the past are the intelligence community, Department of Justice (DOJ) and the military. Two of those three have already been co-opted. They are working hard on getting the military to bend to their evil plans. So far I have not heard much out of the senior military leadership in reaffirming their loyalty to the Constitution and total disregard for illegal orders.
The Trump crowd is abusing our military and National Guard. Those soldiers from Texas do not want to be in Chicago. They are away from their real jobs and families on a deployment with unclear objectives that they are not trained to do.
It will hit the fan when Miller, oops, I mean Trump, invokes the Insurrection Act of 1807. In their minds, that Act, which would over ride the Posse Comitatus Act which prohibits troops from being used for law enforcement, would give them unlimited power to use the American military against American citizens. The Act does not fully outline or restrict how it can be utilized. Trump will undoubtedly declare that it gives him “plenary authority” to do whatever he wants. Remember in his first term he asked why the military couldn’t just shoot peaceful demonstrators in the legs to get them out of the way.
To me, we are past the “blue” versus “red” or Democrat versus Republican or Liberal versus Conservative or any of the other traditional ways we define policy differences. We are in the gravest danger to our Republic since at least the Civil War. And to me, it is about morality. It is now the moral versus the immoral. Do we treat human beings as we would want to be treated and not as scum or animals as Trump labels them? Do we act as judge, jury and executioner to murder people in small boats in the middle of the ocean or do the rules of the legal system apply? Do we care that millions of Americans are going to die because they no longer can afford basic healthcare or do we do our best to help them? Do we use the scientific method to prevent illness and the spread of disease or do we just wing it on the whims of one man that does not care about anyone else? Do we allow children around the world to die preventable deaths from illness and malnutrition or do we, the greatest nation on earth, help them?
The moral aspects of what is now happening cannot be ignored. It is not “just politics.” It is a fight to define who we are as a nation. We have not always gotten it right, but we have made progress over the last 249 years in our quest to “form a more perfect union.”
“NO KINGS DAY” is 18 October.
Tom
Into The Fray 
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