O Canada!

Posted: August 27, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Another ridiculous Truth Social post by our embittered president. He cannot control himself and acts like a spoiled two year old whenever he does not get what he wants. He is both embarrassing and dangerous.

On Thursday, Trump took his silly spat with Canada — silly, but costly — to another level by signing an Executive Order (EO) “officially” changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. Really — this is all the President of the United States has on his “to do” list? One would think that he might be focused on ending the war of choice against Iran, or helping to improve the economy or focusing on the fact that people are dying from the measles or a hundred other actions to actually help everyday Americans.

So typically Trumpian. This what the party formerly known as the Republican Party has become. Today, it is merely a rubber stamp for every inane idea he has in the moment. Can’t beat the Iranians? Attack Canada with twenty billion dollars in tariffs. Tariffs that Americans will pay. Not interested in Ukraine? Attack South Korea by cancelling critical national security exercises and praising North Korea’s ruthless dictator — a dictator that is supplying artillery shells and ten thousand troops to fight with the Russians against Ukraine. Not interested in NATO? Then praise Vladimir Putin — the same guy that is supplying Iran with drones and intelligence and targeting information to attack U.S. military forces.

His mad method of running our country is to attack, bully, extort, and vilify our (increasingly fewer) friends while praising, aiding and abetting our enemies. He denigrates our allies and praises our enemies. Not one sentient world leader trusts him or the United States to do the right thing. They have figured out that there is a new world order, and to much of the world, that order does not include the United States of America. They must and will plan without us into the future. As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said last week in describing the negotiations with the U.S.,

“We have been pragmatic, patient, and persistent. We have pursued every opportunity to reach an agreement that protects Canadian workers and their families, that strengthens our economy, and that respects Canadian sovereignty. We have been under no illusions. We recognized from the start that America has changed. Early last year, I observed that the decades-long process of steadily increasing integration between our economies was over. Our government understood, before many, that America would transform all its commercial relationships. That it would put a series of tariffs on its closest allies and use economic integration as a weapon. That its signature was written in pencil.“

Our signature is written in pencil. In other words, as a partner, we are erratic, untrustworthy, unreliable, inconsistent and irresponsible. The U.S. has lost the very things that have served us so well in the post-World War II era.

It is no surprise to learn that Canada is reciprocating by placing twenty billion dollars of tariffs on U.S. goods. It will be painful for both countries economically, not to mention the impact on our longest and most trusted friendship and alliance. If the Canadians really want to make an impact, consider that Canada supplies 99% of our natural gas imports, 85% of our electricity imports, and 60% of crude oil imports. Those crude oil imports go to refineries in the American Midwest that were specifically built to refine Canadian crude and cannot be used as currently configured to refine oil from other sources. Several northern states get their electricity directly from Canada. Oh, by the way. Ever hear of the Welland Canal? That is the twenty-seven mile long canal that connects Lake Ontario and Lake Erie to bypass the Niagara River (Niagara Falls). It runs through Ontario, Canada. Close that to U.S. ships and trade on the Great Lakes comes to a crashing halt. They could really make us hurt. So far, they have not. But one cannot really blame them if Trump continues to antagonize them that they will up the ante.

There was already an agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico (called the USMCA in the U.S. and CUSMA in Canada) that Trump in his first term called “the largest, most significant, modern, and balanced trade agreement in history.” It replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). What happened to the USMCA? I would suggest the Epstein Files, the Iran fiasco, affordability, and the looming blue tsunami of the upcoming mid-term elections. He needed a distraction so why not pick on our best friend?

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is facilitating Trump’s worst instincts. Chief Justice John Roberts lifted a stay on the construction of the East Wing at the White House. He ruled that construction can continue while the case to stop construction works its way through the system (lower courts had stopped it). While only a “technical” ruling, no time frame was given for the case to be heard by the entire Court. It could be days, it could be months, meaning Trump will get his ballroom. Remember that he claims it is a national security requirement. This week the Washington Post revealed, thanks to former White House officials, that a secret (well, it was until the article was published) complex already exists under the White House. Started after the terrorist attacks on 11 September, it was completed during the Obama administration. It is built for continuity of government purposes, has months of food and water and can withstand a nuclear blast. But Trump will get his ballroom.

On another “technicality” the Supreme Court issued an “emergency” 6-3 decision in Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, ET AL v California, ET AL involving the United States Postal Service (USPS) and mail-in voting. Trump signed an E.O. that designated the USPS as the administrative body for determining who could vote by mail and who could not. In essence, the states must submit lists of eligible voters, which will be compared to a list put together by the federal government (Trump’s agents) and the USPS will only mail ballots to approved voters. If states fail to submit their voter lists (which the law suit claims is protected under the Constitution) then no mail-in ballots at all will be delivered by the Post Office in that state. There are other provisions such as prosecuting election officials if even one ineligible person votes and other elements designed to suppress the vote and give Trump officials the opportunity to decide who votes and who does not. It is blatantly un-Constitutional even to this non-attorney. We are supposed to be calm because experts point out that this is merely a procedural technicality and of course the Supreme Court will rule against it. In sum, the Court claims that the states’ sued too early. Supposedly they cannot claim damage until actually damaged — which seems like a huge Catch-22 and makes no sense at all to me. Forgotten in the discussions is that some states, such as North Carolina, begin distributing ballots in early September. Time is of the essence if we are to avoid chaos and uncertainty — but of course that is the point of all of this. Trump will use every tool in the box to disrupt the elections. Recall that the Supreme Court found his use of tariffs un-Constitutional and yet that did not stop him from imposing them anyway, just under a different statute. Back to court again and so on and so forth.

I do not think that the courts can move fast enough to react to (much less prevent) the tremendous mischief he will pursue that is intended to disrupt the election. The bigger the chaos and disruption, the greater voters will become confused and perhaps not vote and the bigger the confusion the more likely Trump and his minions are to declare the election invalid. For example, Fulton County (Atlanta) in Georgia returns Senator Jon Ossof to his seat, but the federal government declares that fraud or some other crime was committed, confiscates the ballots and voting machines, and without those votes, Ossof’s opponent wins. We are only limited by our imaginations, but I would focus on “blue” cities in “red” states to watch for the shenanigans.

It seems that most of Trump’s energy — the little that he seems to have — is focused on his vanity projects and turning against his perceived enemies. If Trump cannot have it, he will destroy it. Be it tariffs or monuments. He is still trying to put his name on the Kennedy Center and now, in court in front of a magistrate, the Department of Justice (DOJ) argued that if Trump’s name is not on the building, then it will be torn down and there will be a new use of the space. The aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller (CVN-81) currently under construction may not come to be. Credible sources report that the first aircraft carrier named for a black Sailor and the first Enlisted Sailor so honored should be renamed after Trump — according to Trump. “Dorie” Miller was a hero during the attack on Pearl Harbor, winning the Navy Cross — the first black man to achieve it — who was later killed in action in 1943. Trump got five deferments during the Viet Nam War for bone spurs. The same guy that, according to the New York Times analysis of the Epstein Files so far, has his name or Mar-a-Lago or other associations mentioned over 38,000 times. No wonder the DOJ is working overtime to cover it up.

We are in big trouble. The America we knew and the world respected is gone. When this nightmare is over, and one way or another it will be at some point, we cannot go back to the way it was. The way it was is what got us to someone like Trump. We and the world can never be sure that there will not be another Trump if we do not put in place the actual checks and balances and laws that we thought would protect us. They did not.

While all of this was going on we lost a truly kind person. Dolly Parton died after a short bout with cancer. Whatever you thought of her as a performer, she knew who she was, stayed true to herself, was a prolific philanthropist and by all accounts a truly kind person. Kindness is in short supply these days, and we just lost a little more of it with her passing.

That Was The Year That Was

Posted: December 30, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The plaque below an image of an autopen signing former President Joe Biden’s signature, displayed in place of a portrait on Trump’s “Walk of Fame” at the White House.  Apparently, he has nothing better to do than to mock his predecessors and to put his social media screeds in bronze. (picture by Jessica Koscielniak of Reuters)

“The only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been, and by the grace of God we always will be, a Christian nation.”

J.D. Vance on 21 December 2025 at the “Turning Point USA” national rally. As usual, a member of the Trump regime ignores the Constitution, specifically the First Amendment. The founding fathers clearly spelled out that there was no religious foundation to the Constitution.

Many of us prefer to look forward at the end of a year hoping that the new year will be better — regardless of whether the last year was personally good or bad. It is also a tradition to gather lists of key events, books, movies, songs and other notable achievements from the past year. I could not resist the temptation to do the same for the Trump regime and gather the ten worst things that they have done to our country. It was hard. Not because of a lack of anything to say. Rather, because there was so much to choose from. For example, Ron Filipkowski of Meidas+ posted the top 500 worst things that Trump did since taking office. There is a lot to choose from scanning the spectrum from trying to overturn the 14th Amendment and birthright citizenship via an Executive Order (now before the Supreme Court) to turning the White House, the People’s House, into his own personal vision of Mar-A-Lago meets Versailles. In looking back, it is astounding how much our government has been corrupted in eleven months. I had forgotten some of his worst efforts because everyday we get more and more incredibly poor actions, decisions, and self-enriching “deals.” It is hard to keep track.

I am still at a loss as to how he got re-elected. The best analogy I have heard is to compare it to hurricane warnings and how people react. His first term was predicted to be a Category Five storm of destruction. For most people, it was only a Category Two. As they often due in the south, people evacuated for a “five” but would have ridden out a “two.” Predictions of a second Category Five storm are received skeptically since they survived and the predictions were wrong about the first one. No one believes the predictions. “It can’t be all that bad. We rode it out before.” And here we are.

Many of you may disagree with my list or the order of the rankings. Feel free to let me know where I went wrong. In order from bottom to top — the worst — is my list.

  • Destroyed Valued Institutions. The Trump administration is systematically destroying or changing our military, cultural, educational, and other institutions. For example, the Smithsonian Institution has been directed to remove from The African American History Museum, The Women’s History Museum and the American Art Museum any exhibits that promote “divisive narratives” (discrimination and slavery) or that promote “improper ideology” (does not conform to Project 2025). It also means firing senior military officers and other officials that are women or minorities. By the administration’s definition, they only got to where they were because they are “DEI hires.” A potent indicator of the racist and misogynistic tendencies of this administration.
  • Undermined the Rule of Law. Trump uses the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), two institutions that were the gold standard for justice and law and order throughout the world, as his personal tools of retribution. He has directed the prosecution of his perceived enemies from the former FBI Director Jim Comey to former President Barack Obama (yes, in order to prove the “Russia, Russia, Russia hoax” is really an ongoing conspiracy to rig elections.) On his first day in office he pardoned or commuted sentences for all of those involved in the January 6 attempted coup. Most of those pardoned had either pleaded guilty or were found guilty at trial for breaking the law and attempting to overthrow the government. They also injured 174 law enforcement officers, four of whom later died. Every FBI agent and federal prosecutor that had anything to do with investigating and prosecuting J-6 was fired.
  • Used Grift and Graft to Enrich Himself. If you are a “crypto bro” or a billionaire, or a staunch defender of Trump and you broke the law, you have nothing to worry about. A “contribution” of a few million dollars and you can walk free. Pardoned of all crimes. Which also means you do not have to pay your victims the millions of dollars that you took from them in your schemes. They were all suckers anyway. Need approval from the government for a corporate merger? No problem. Just make a “contribution” to Trump’s PAC or ballroom or buy a few million of his meme coins. If you have a spare five million dollars you can get a Trump Gold Card and become a citizen.
  • Destroyed Our Health and the Environment. The two are interlinked. First, get rid of the scientists. Whether it be health care or climate change, like everything else (these folks have a limited vocabulary) it is a hoax. No need to spend money on research to keep people healthy. It is all waste, fraud and abuse. Fire most of the experts at the National Institute of Health (NIH) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) and replace them with non-doctors and influencers. Vaccines? No need to worry about that even though diseases we thought we eradicated are making a come back. Polio anyone? It is just natural selection. Hey! Look at all that land in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge (AWR) in Alaska. Perfect for drilling for oil and gas. Clean coal rules! Renewable energy is a hoax (again). Besides, wind turbines spoil the view. Deregulation is the way to go. Make toxic emissions great again!
  • Demonstrated Incompetence with Signalgate. Is there is any better symbol of the incompetence, abrasiveness and contemptuousness of the Secretary of Defense than putting out tactical attack information over an unclassified network hours before pilots and others were going in harms way to attack the Houthis in Yemen than the scandal surrounding Signalgate? Hegseth checks all the boxes for what is wrong with this administration. And no accountability.
  • Destroyed the Economy with Arbitrary Tariffs. The ups and downs and pure arbitrariness of this administration is fully on display with their policies around tariffs. Besides outright lies that the country of manufacture pays the extra money — they don’t, American companies and consumers pay the tax — it is the sheer lack of understanding or consistency that makes it worse. Trump seems to think that tariffs are some magic panacea to solve all of our problems. Recall that he earned his nickname of TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) because one phone call — good or bad — changed what a country or industry would be charged that day. Tomorrow it could be different. Good bye strategic planning and hello chaos.
  • Conducted Illegal Murders in the Caribbean Sea and East Pacific. Trump continues to murder people on boats at sea in international waters. Drug dealers or not, there are legal processes to deal with criminals. Extrajudicial executions where Trump is judge, jury and executioner is not how we, as Americans, roll. This is not about stopping drugs. As I have written before, this is not how the flow of drugs into the U.S. will stop. This is pure and simple a case of Trump throwing around his weight because he can and he wants to rule the Western Hemisphere. More money into his pockets and his buddies pockets from larger access to oil is a benefit. So far, the administration has provided no proof of anything that they are claiming is a justification. Indeed, the evidence points in other directions, especially when Trump pardons a convicted drug kingpin who is quoted as saying that he will “stuff the cocaine right up the noses of the gringos.”
  • Expanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Raids. Trump and his minions continue to insist that they are only arresting and deporting the “worst of the worst” criminals who are not in the country legally. Somehow, as the publication ProPublica has been able to document, there are at least 170 U.S. citizens arrested in 2025 by ICE and the Border Patrol that we know about. Not arrested for interfering with legal arrests but swept up in raids because of the language they spoke or the way they looked. A year ago who among us would have thought we would have a paramilitary force on our streets, out of uniform with no identifying markings, driving unmarked cars, wearing masks, and that they would snatch people off the street without a warrant and spirit them away to a detention center in another state without legal representation? It seems to me that rhymes a lot with a form of national government that starts with an “f”.
  • Undermined Allies and Hindered Ukraine. It is astounding to witness the degree that Trump will go to assuage Putin’s every whim. Putin is determined to restore the Russian/Soviet Empire. Trump, apparently, wants to help him or at least stand by with admiration at how powerful he is. He continues to denigrate NATO and our other allies and takes Putin’s side in every way. We can speculate as to why, but Trump, and now his administration, stand by a dictator that invaded a democracy rather than supporting that democracy. He continually pushes Ukraine to end the war by giving in to Russian demands and expects Russia to do nothing. Threatening Denmark over Greenland does nothing to dissuade our allies from their increasing realization that the U.S. has the worst possible motives. It fits Trump’s world view that only three leaders matter in the world today, Trump, Putin and Xi. They are powerful and everyone else is weak and therefore unimportant. Eighty years of a generally stable world order is fading away. We may never get it back. Even if a new administration tries to renew and strengthen our ties to Europe, Canada and elsewhere, the damage is done. Two Trump terms taught the world not to trust us. We are no longer a reliable partner and therefore they are going to look elsewhere to strengthen their security and economies. We will become ever more isolated.
  • Shutdown US AID. In my view the shuttering of nearly every U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) program is the worst thing this administration has done on many different levels. It is amoral, it is un-American and it is short sighted. In practical terms thousands of people around the world have already died who could have been saved. Over the next few years hundreds of thousands will needlessly die from diseases and malnutrition that could have been prevented. Despicable. The U.S. has always been a force for good in the world. Now we are despised. It was also a symbol of soft power — giving people insight into America and its people and that we are basically kind. That can pay dividends in the geo-political world, the intelligence world and the peace keeping world. In a practical selfish sense, those programs also gave us access to and “eyes on” governments, movements and potential threats — natural, military or terrorist — around the world. That is lost. At home, thousands of people’s jobs depended on that aid as well. Farmers, truck drivers, shippers, dockworkers and others that depended on supplying those programs for their livelihoods. We should be ashamed.

If J.D. Vance thinks we are a “Christian nation” then he must be talking about a different Christianity than the one I know. This administration is perhaps the most un-Christian like in its policies concerning dealing with real human beings that I know about. What he really means are the principles outlined in their operating manual Project 2025. A white Christian nationalist nation ruled by powerful white men.

If asked on a scale of one to ten, with ten as doing great, how bad the administration has been to date, I would give it a three. It has been worse than I expected — not in what they have tried to do because they told us exactly what was coming — but because I did not think that they would be able to pull it off. I especially did not think that they would be able to do it as fast as they have. So, I give it a three because they are capable of doing even worse, more damaging things and I have to leave room to rank it. Call it the Trump Scale.

And yet. I believe in the United States of America. I believe that the majority of us see exactly what is going on, where we are headed and how bad it could be unless we raise our voices and register our dissatisfaction. I believe that Trump has built a house of fake gold gilded cards and that soon, it will come crashing down. How bad that crash will be is anyone’s guess, but from it we will restore our foundational values, put morality back in our policies and move forward as a renewed democratic republic.

Best wishes to all for a great 2026. As Sergeant Phil Esterhaus would say at the end of roll call on the television police drama Hill Street Blues, “Hey! Be careful out there!”

“Slip Sliding Away”

Posted: April 4, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“We won with the poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.”

— Donald J. Trump in a victory speech after the Nevada caucus in 2016

While I, and many others, warned of the likely devastation that a second Trump administration would bring, I, at least, while not surprised at what is happening, am shocked at the depth and breadth of his total frontal assault on our democracy. He told us what he would do, but I was not sure that he would be able to pull it off, especially in such a short time frame. Of course, shortsightedly on my part, I did not foresee a complete capitulation from the Congress, giving Trump full leeway to do whatever he pleased.

Only the judicial system has resisted his most unconstitutional moves and we have yet to see how that plays out. Early indications are that the Trump administration expects that the Supreme Court will totally, or mostly, rule in his favor citing the power of the Executive in ways that such power has never been defined in our history. Should the Supreme Court not support the president as being able to do whatever he feels like doing, I fully expect him and his administration to ignore the ruling. We already see that in the way that they ignore and disparage federal judges everyday and claim that a single judge cannot overrule the president, especially when the president is acting in the role of commander-in-chief. As a result, Trump and others in his administration call judges that rule against him, “radical leftists” and that they are issuing “unlawful” orders and that they have “no authority” to block the executive branch. As a result, Trump and many others have called for the impeachment of many of those that have ruled in favor of the Constitution rather than in favor of Trump. As we all know, the federal judges thus far have been issuing temporary restraining orders in order to further understand the government’s case and to have a full hearing, where, you know, actual facts can be presented. If the government does not like the decision, there is recourse to an appeal.

It is worth reminding everyone, because apparently we have collectively had the wool pulled over our eyes, that Executive Orders are not laws. They do not have the force of law unless we react to them as if they are. They are policies. Policies can be over ridden in Congress or deemed unconstitutional by the courts or changed or cancelled with the stroke of a pen. Additionally, an unelected South African co-president has no power under the Constitution.

All of this is emblematic of a plan I did not fully appreciate. When Trump and his Project 2025 acolytes talked about removing the “deep state” I knew what they were talking about but did not appreciate the full extent of what that meant — even though they told us straight out what that meant.

It was not just weeding out allegedly unproductive federal workers or political appointees that tempered Trump’s most weird policies, it meant getting rid of the entire bureaucracy and replacing it with a small cadre of loyalists. Period.

It also meant that “deep state” really meant what they call “elite.” The Project 2025 zealots are using Trump to reshape America. In their view, everyone in a position of power or influence in the fall of 2024 (and for decades before that) were members of the deep state. Universities, cultural institutions, museums, entertainment companies, television programs, public schools, law firms, military organizations, and on and on have all been instruments of the so called radical left. They all must be destroyed and then reimagined to match the Project 2025 vision and become subservient to the all powerful executive. I knew it intellectually, they told us over and over they were going to do it and Trump campaigned on it, but I don’t think I internalized it. In their minds, those around Trump are literally on a mission from God. (We can discuss whether Trump is using them, or they are using Trump. He has no ideological underpinnings. His goals as president are uninhibited power, money and retribution.)

They have attacked nearly every corner of our society and now it is the economy. They want to party like it’s 1897. (Trump has become enamored of our 25th president William McKinley. I am not sure he knows that President McKinley was assassinated in 1901 in Buffalo NY.) He said as much in the Rose Garden when he announced the tariffs aimed at destroying the world order that served us so well for the last eight decades. He clearly has no understanding of history as he claims tariffs made the U.S. prosperous (the Gilded Age — he calls it the Golden Age) and that income taxes implemented in 1913 ruined the country. We can see where this is going. The Robber Barons of his “Golden Age” were the rich, powerful white men that ran the country and became fabulously wealthy on the backs of the working class (much of America). Think the cottages of Newport RI. So, following his logic, he and today’s robber barons (the billionaires with which he has surrounded himself) should run the country. Taxes equal socialism. It is taking money from the rich (billionaires) and giving it to the poor (in the form of roads, public schools, food banks, health care, social security, regulating pollution, and so on.)

Thus, his stated plan to eliminate or reduce income taxes because tariffs will make up the difference. (The math does not work. The US collects just over 3 trillion dollars a year in taxes. The best, some say wildly optimistic, projection by his administration is that tariffs will bring in about 600 billion dollars a year.) However, if one eliminates aid to the poor people overseas, aid to Americans, and just about every social program that we have come to rely upon as a nation — the DOGE-bros at work — that saves money for the billionaires because taxes won’t be needed anymore. (Salaries to the workers are a very tiny fraction of the overall budget, not enough to meet their goal.)

It also saves money so that tax dollars can go to subsidizing Trump’s weekly golf outings at his own courses. So far he has spent 19 of his 74 days in office golfing (just over 25% of his time as president this term), at a cost of roughly 28 million dollars. So far.

At the end of the 19th century, Trump believes, the US got along quite nicely, thank you, without any entangling trade or security or military alignments. Why do we need them now? Let’s see how many of our friends and allies we can drive away from us. America First! We don’t need allies or trading partners. Of course we should go back to that era where most people had no running water, there was rampant disease, the lack of regulations resulted in the deaths of countless workers on the job, we built the Panama Canal (by God!) at the cost of thousands of lives, and the maximum range of weapons was about three miles. Just like now!

Whether through ignorance or Manifest Destiny, Trump’s fascination with Greenland shows his basic misunderstanding of a lot. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark. Denmark is in NATO. The US is in NATO. An attack on one is an attack on all. There is a 1951 treaty between Denmark and the US for the defense of Greenland. If he is actually concerned about the vulnerability of Greenland, there are multiple existing ways to improve its defenses. Since he continues to insist that military force is an option, does he really intend to attack a NATO ally which would precipitate the rest of NATO coming to Denmark’s defense? (Putin is so excited at this idea that he can hardly sit still.)

Do you remember Trump’s logic during the pandemic? He wanted to stop all COVID testing because if there were no tests, there would be no COVID. So of course he still has that logic. Fire all the scientists and there is no climate change. Fire all the medical researchers and we do not need vaccines. Fire all the weather prediction folks and there are no more major storms, therefore it is possible to fire the folks at FEMA. Cut scholarships and poor people won’t have to get a higher education. Privatize K-12 schools and only the right people will be able to send their kids to get a good basic education. Want to go to a museum to learn about your heritage? Want to read a book about our black, brown, Asian and women heroes? Why? There is only one America so fire all the “woke” people working at the Smithsonian Institution and only allow Trump approved exhibitions. Subversive plays at the Kennedy Center? Make Trump the Chairman and only allow what he wants to be performed there. Prestigious law firms are defending people or issues you don’t like? Put out an Executive Order that essentially puts them out of business. Want to control the admissions policies at Ivy League Schools? Withhold billions of dollars in grant money, threaten to put them out of business and they will come around. Want to spread fear among the populace? Start abducting legal residents on the street because they co-authored an opinion piece in a college newspaper a year ago and send them to jail without access to an attorney, in defiance of a court order and hold them without due process. Accusations and “trust us” are enough to put anyone in jail without having committed a crime. And so it goes.

All of these things are happening now.

The most disappointing and discouraging thing of all? Prestigious law firms, Ivy League colleges, news organizations, businesses, groups with the fiscal and physical ability to resist these unconstitutional actions of the executive are caving to the Dear Leader. Not just giving in to Trump, but actually paying out millions of dollars in thinly disguised extortion money. Trump has a pretty good mob boss business going while the Project 2025 folks are achieving their goals. A symbiotic relationship between two forces that are destroying our Republic as we have known it for at least the last 80 years and ignoring the principles that have guided us from our earliest days as a nation.

So far, the dark forces are winning. Our democracy is “slip, sliding away.”

(Title from Paul Simon)