May 31, 2025

What is Character?

Given recent events, including the aftermath of the November elections, and even well before that, “character” is a term that’s being tossed around a lot, including by me. So I have been obsessing about what it really means, or what I really mean when I use it as I think about what is occurring with our nation and the world.

Character is a very full-bodied ideal as I see it. Without character, very bad decisions are far more likely to be made, bad because they are shortsighted, amoral, illegal, or cruel. Character makes us adopt a righteous vigor for integrity, intellectual and transactional courage, and genuine adherence to core common Judeo-Christian-Islamic-Buddhist-Hindu principles (i.e., which I consider to be aptly summed up by justice, compassion, and social responsibility). All of that boils down to five words for me: Do the right thing, always.

May 20, 2025

It’s Not a Red or Blue, Dem or GOP, Liberal or Conservative Issue: It’s Our Collective Survival

When someone has their finger on a trigger which could destroy humanity and the world as we have it today, shouldn’t there be some periodic, independent, objective, and well-scrutinized rigorous assessment of the commander-in-chief’s ability to function?

Among the first lessons imparted to youth by elders is to learn from experience. It makes sense. Some things you can only understand by going through them, making mistakes, overlooking things that should be noticed, jumping to wrong conclusions after a faulty analysis or insufficient information, etc. One would think we as a people ought to learn from experience when it comes to the intellectual and psychological health of someone who can start a nuclear war. We cannot control who in Russia, China or elsewhere has their finger on nuclear button. But we ought to consider what systems and procedures should be in place to assess the cerebral wherewithal and emotional stability of our own commanders-in-chief. If Joe Biden‘s experience teaches us nothing more, it’s that we whistle past this particular graveyard at our peril.

Trump’s Yen for Unqualified Unaccomplished but Hostile Nominees Attains New Heights with the IRS (And Thom Tillis is All for It!)

Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the IRS is former six-term Congressman and auctioneer extraordinaire Billy Long. Long was tapped to run the IRS for a term that runs through November 12, 2027, after former commissioner Billy Werfel resigned as the Trump administration took power. The agency has already had at least four acting commissioners come and go since Donald took his oath of office, and thousands of IRS employees have voluntarily or involuntarily left the IRS.

Long has no qualifications for shaping tax legislation other than co-sponsoring a bill calling for the abolishment of the IRS while he was a member of the House. That curious credential was not inquired about during Long’s confirmation hearing. Long matriculated but did not graduate from the University of Missouri, and did become an accredited, and evidently well-respected, auctioneer, albeit conducting bidding for people to buy stuff would not seem to give one much of a foundation to manage the IRS, an agency with approximately 85,000 employees (prior to DOGE’s handiwork) and an annual budget of over $12 billion.

Long’s most pertinent resume item is his role as a carnival barker for firms exploiting the controversial Employee Retention Tax Credit (“ERTC” or “ERC”). Since leaving Congress, Long has promoted ERTC claims, working with firms that processed these applications for a fee. Critics argue that Long’s participation in an industry fraught with scams creates a significant conflict of interest, especially considering the IRS’ role in rooting out improper ERC claims. Kiplinger has reported that the pandemic-era tax credit is notorious for widespread fraud, prompting the IRS to cease processing claims at least temporarily. (An IRS review of one million employee retention credit claims found that between 70% and 90% of filed claims show signs of fraud or error, which approximates more than $86 billion in potentially improper claims. Ongoing criminal investigations have uncovered 323 cases involving more than $2.8 billion of suspected fraudulent ERC claims from 2020 to 2023.) Another credible observation about Long the seedy pitchperson is his role in marketing so-called “tribal tax credits” that the IRS has stated actually do not exist, but the touting of which have enriched Mr. Long.

One would imagine that Long’s thin and actually checkered background for purposes of running the $12 billion department responsible for administering our nation’s revenue generation in a lawful and orderly manner would send shivers down the spine of any self-respecting legislator being asked to act upon his nomination.

Well, count Thom Tillis out for that purpose: He has indicated his inclination to vote in favor of Long’s nomination for a five year term. Quoting the esteemed Senator Tillis in March on fb: “It was great meeting with Billy Long today to discuss his nomination to be Commissioner of the IRS. During our meeting, Billy told me his plan to shake up the IRS to serve the American people better. I look forward to supporting his confirmation.” Tillis reaffirmed his support of Long as recently as May 20, 2025.

Oh my.

May 7, 2025

Oligarchs Get Richer, Over and Under the Table, While Trump Ends a Program that Benefits Non-Oligarchs and Aids the Environment

The EPA plans to end Energy Star, the program which certifies the energy efficiency of home appliances. In March, dozens of trade industry groups and appliance companies (e.g., the Chamber of Commerce; the Air-Conditioning, Heating, & Refrigeration Institute) sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin urging him not to end Energy Star, stating “Eliminating it will not serve the American people… [since] it is likely that, should the program be eliminated, it will be supplanted by initiatives that drive results counter to the goals of this administration such as decreased features, functionality, performance, or increased costs.” Energy Star provides rebates to purchasers of energy-efficient appliances which can also reduce consumers’ energy bills.

One thing is certain about this latest in a growing series of harmful actions by this administration: Neither Howie Lutnick, nor Scott Bessent, nor Donny Trump will mourn the end of the rebates, lower home energy bills, or a more sustainable environment. They could care less about the “chump change” from rebates and lower energy costs, and are too venal to give a damn about the environment.

May 6, 2025

We Need an Operation Warp Speed for the Air Traffic Control System

Donald came kicking and screaming to the realization that Covid was not a minor hiccup (for example having boasted on CNBC that “We have it totally under control” on January 22, 2020). But, give credit where due, his administration, somewhat belatedly, did forcefully confront the deadly pandemic that followed Trump’s initial downplaying with Operation Warp Speed, a core element of the effort to develop and distribute Covid vaccines.

Well, Donald, time for Operation Warp Speed 2. The technology and personnel challenges are considerable and do not lend themselves to fixes as quick as every traveler (and for that matter every person walking around the US) would want. But, as the country did in war time (mobilizing industry in WW II); the “space race” to land a person on the moon, and most recently Covid, a vigorous, well-organized initiative championed by the person residing in the Oval Office would materially accelerate an undertaking to overhaul the air traffic system, and hopefully avoid or minimize catastrophic accidents at the least, and moreover restore the public’s rapidly waning confidence in boarding commercial flights, and the consequential impacts on commerce and other aspects of our lives caused by a fear of flying pandemic.

It Ain’t the Number of “Deals” that Matters. It’s the Number of Dollars.

Donald Trump has curbed his exaggerations about the number of “deals” being negotiated, and on the verge of being finalized, from 200 in a Time interview in April, to, well, zippo being done because, quoting Trump on May 6, “We don’t have to sign deals.”

Well, whether no deals are signed, or 200, is not really the point anyway Donny me boy.

The dollar value, and thus the magnitude of the impact upon our economy, of any favorable changes negotiated by Trump’s lackeys Lutnick and Bessent, are the only numbers that matter.

So it is useful to note that in 2024 the major trading partners and the dollar value of their imports from the US were:

Mexico: $505.85 billion.
China: $438.95 billion.
Canada: $412.7 billion.
Germany: $160.44 billion.
Japan: $152.07 billion.
Vietnam: $142.48 billion.
South Korea: $135.46 billion.
Ireland: $103.76 billion.

The leading trading partners and the dollar value of their exports to the US in 2024 were:

Canada: $349.4 billion.
Mexico: $334.0 billion.
China: $143.5 billion.
United Kingdom: $15.0 billion.

More concisely, in 2024 the United States’ top trading partners were Mexico, China, and Canada which, in combination with the European Union, accounted for over 60% of the US’s total trade.

As of May 6, none of the nine individual nations noted above have signed, or nodded their assent, to any deal, as is also true about the European Union as a whole.

You might wonder how many documented trade agreements, or even informal wink and nod understandings, the Trump brain trust has consummated with even sovereign nations with comparatively itsy bitsy economic impacts which would have essentially zilch effect to mitigate the disastrous consequences of Trump’s love affair with tariffs. Well, no such arrangements with those parties have been specifically confirmed either.

Finally, when last inquiries were made, the penguins were not biting either.

Hey Signal Guy, Diversity is Not the Opposite of Unity

May 4, 2025 Thought

Houthi Missile in Tel Aviv and Russian May Day Tradition in DC: Warrior Ethos My Ass

Pardon please the colorful term for my posterior. While the third-raters in this miserable excuse for an administration proclaim victory, the Houthis celebrated a first by landing one of their ballistic missiles near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport’s main terminal, reportedly injuring four people and suspending flights for a time. So pardon as well my skepticism about anything spouted by Trump’s clown troupe.

Now we learn that the rumors of a military parade in DC, nominally to celebrate the establishment of the US Army 250 years ago, but really to give Emperor Donald I his long-sought birthday parade in our Capital, actually foretell another colossal national disgrace. (Trump proposed having a parade after seeing one in France on Bastille Day in 2017, stating after watching the two-hour procession along the famed Champs-Elysees that he wanted an even grander one on Pennsylvania Avenue.)

The parade being contemplated, which reportedly would include more than 6,600 soldiers, at least 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands, and possibly thousands of civilians, would coincide with Trump’s 79th birthday on June 14. The event is estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars (an earlier estimate was $92 million), including for the movement of military vehicles, equipment, aircraft, and troops across the country to Washington, and the need to feed and house thousands of service members, not to mention the cost to repair the damage to DC’s road and other infrastructure. Such a spectacle was shelved during Trump’s first term given its costs, with Donald whining in a social media post in 2018 that the event would not proceed because local politicians were price-gouging.

Celebrating the hallowed and illustrious history of the US Army in some manner, like our veterans more generally, is a very worthy undertaking to be sure.

But, at a time when Americans have already suffered, and/or will suffer more, enormous reductions in household wealth, or lost their jobs, or will, or incurred significant additional living expenses, with inflation expected to worsen, all of which is directly and solely Donald’s doing, spending upwards of $100 million or more so he can try to satiate his obsession for honors and adoration (which most Americans and much of the world would never entertain conferring on this felon), this is more than unseemly. It is absolutely nauseating.

I reckon Dwight Eisenhower’s thinking so many years ago are worth remembering here:

Michael Beschloss reported how, when Dwight Eisenhower was president and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev presided over large military parades showing off the latest in Soviet military might, some White House advisors approached Eisenhower, a highly decorated general, suggesting the U.S. do the same in order to show off American might.

“Eisenhower said absolutely not, we are the pre-eminent power on Earth,” Beschloss reported. “For us to try to imitate what the Soviets are doing in Red Square would make us look weak.” While that is not an exact quote of Eisenhower’s remarks, various authoritative sources verify that the observation does reflect Eisenhower’s thinking. As one Eisenhower scholar (Lance Janda) has observed, “He was also steadfastly not bombastic or grandiose.”

Oh well.

(Certain referenced material on May 4 is from https://www.politifact.com/, if not per se plagiarized from that account. This is how I roll.)

ARCHIVED OUTBURSTS

Each morning I make a list. Of what I want to do that day. It’s not that my memory is so poor (yet) that I otherwise would sit listlessly in a chair and wonder if I should be doing “something.” It’s a ritual of joy for me to take note of how my day will be productive. I will accomplish “things” today. I line through completed tasks, each line-through a very satisfying breaking of the ribbon. Some tasks are menial (laundry) while others are more weighty (taxes, NGO time). Each has the same importance to me as a means of measuring a day worth being alive.

Ever a master of the obvious, we all understand that in nature, in our lives and everything else, commonly things don’t just “happen for a reason”, but for more than one reason or cause. We are prone to oversimplification, whether out of laziness, ADD, a purposeful corruption of reason and facts, or otherwise. Whatever the circumstance, far too often we impulsively attribute causation to one thing when in fact more than one thing, perhaps numerous factors, contribute to events, conditions, outcomes, etc. Consider medicine, politics, or virtually any other human pursuit. More often than not, a confluence of matters causes what occurs. We need to resist the urge to avoid a searching examination of a situation in favor of a knee-jerk and overly simplistic assessment. Otherwise, we may tend to take the wrong lessons away, commit wholly avoidable errors, or even harm or kill people and other life.

A Country of Cowards

GOP House and Senate inhabitants cite, at times publicly and often privately, various rationale when defending the indefensible. When it comes to abandoning Ukraine and long-term alliances; trivializing severe breaches of national security; mass expulsions of many, perhaps thousands, of the best and brightest minds formerly devoted to government service, etc., one hears whispers about fears of being primaried or concerns for their family’s safety, or much louder dismissals of incontrovertible facts as so much “fake news”, or, still louder, wholly irrelevant, generally inaccurate, and very stale assaults on Hillary Clinton or others. What is celebrated are “triumphs” such as deporting without due process a reportedly gay hairdresser, and perhaps an unknown number of other blameless, harmless folks, to an El Salvadoran gulag in the name of securing borders; detaining, under similarly anarchic pretexts, other vulnerable people, who are lawfully in the US, because they are exercising First Amendment rights; making hollow threats (because the threatened acts will never freaking occur!!) against stalwart NATO allies such as Denmark (but let’s acknowledge the valor displayed in seizing the Kennedy Center), and bleaching the Smithsonian and other institutions of the diverse cultural and historical truths (both bad and good but all factual) which have defined America since its founding. The Don, arguably the greatest coward of them all, and certainly an All-Star Bully, refuses to clean his house in order to avoid future, possible fatal, but certainly harmful, security faux pas, obsessed as he is by his loathing of the free press and the opposition party. This simpleton thereby sends the clear message to one and all that we choose to fight imaginary domestic “enemies” in the form of unarmed, powerless voices, but will readily capitulate to genuinely dangerous foes elsewhere. What happens to a country of cowards? It ends.

Donald and Pete Compete for the Role of the Emperor with No Clothes

US Central Command’s spokesman said last Thursday night that the U.S. has struck more than 800 Houthi targets in Yemen and “…destroyed multiple command-and-control facilities, air defense systems, advanced weapons manufacturing facilities, advanced weapons storage locations, and killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders.” That certainly sounds impressive and would be reassuring to hear about a long-festering challenge to the shipping lanes and Israel, were it not for the misinformation that chronically flows from this administration.

On the other hand, the DOD acknowledges that Houthi rebels have shot down as many as seven U.S. Reaper drones in less than six weeks, a loss of aircraft worth more than $200 million. In addition to downing the drones, the Houthis have been persistently firing missiles and one-way attack drones at U.S. military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. And now it is reported that the USS Harry S. Truman lost an F/A-18E Super Hornet and a tow tractor overboard as the aircraft carrier operated in the Red Sea. The F/A-18E costs more than $60 million.

By no means assigning direct responsibility for the loss of the drones or the aircraft to Pete Hegseth or Donald (but noting that the metaphor of a $60 million aircraft cast overboard is sadly apt for this administration), and given the Central Command’s statement, it is a surprise that the Houthis continue to be a formidable adversary able to inflict as much damage and cost on the US military as it does.

Perhaps most notably, the Houthis’ chief resource for arms and other means to harm US interests is Iran, which in turn has a close strategic and military alliance with Putin’s Russia. And we know that Iran acts with Vlad Putin’s blessing. Speaking of drones, we also know that Iranian drones have wreaked havoc on Russia’s behalf in Ukraine.

So, summing up, we know that $260+/- million of losses from lost aircraft have recently been sustained (not to mention all the other armaments and resources exhausted), and meanwhile, despite glowing battle damage assessments, the Houthis appear not to have been meaningfully degraded yet. The cherry on top is that, while he makes a fool of Trump when it comes to Ukraine, Putin’s Iranian pals are responsible for perhaps demonstrating Pete’s vaunted “warrior ethos” is having paltry returns elsewhere.

Well done Pete! Well done Donald! No missions accomplished! Not even close!

The Lesson from Donald Trump: Rules are for Suckers

Are we as a nation finally prepared to accept that character not only matters, but it is just about EVERYTHING? How many times have you been out and about, and heard someone rationalize that they support Trump with observations like “I didn’t vote for him because I like him, I voted for him because I like his policies” or “I wouldn’t want him to be my neighbor or share a beer or date my daughter, but he’s a smart businessman” or “I hear all the stories about sexual abuse, criminal activity, and so forth, but I’m voting to elect a president, not a saint”? What will it take to hardwire into our national psyche that Judeo-Christian (and other major religion) cardinal truths (you know, the sorts of things Bible-thumping Congress members so inauthentically spout) must actually carry immense weight in our determination of whom we elect? Should we ourselves listen more closely when we admonish our children to always tell the truth, to treat people as they would like to be treated, and to keep their promises, and most generally, just be a good person. If you scan history, even for only a few minutes given our ADD mentalities, what you will observe is that the darkest times of mankind occur when we dispense with character as a core element of behavior in favor of “might makes right.”

Triple Play: (1) The White House Thinks We Are, or We’re with, Stupid; (2) It’s Due Process Stupid, Not if Arbrego Garcia is Guilty or Innocent, and (3) Whatever Happened to the Insistence that the Worst Criminals would be the First People Deported and, Oh Yes, How About Those First Amendment Rights

Part 1: The White House Thinks We Are, or We’re with, Stupid The daily volume of Donald Trump’s lies may only be exceeded by the number of insults which the administration as a whole directly or indirectly hurls at Americans’ collective intelligence. Donny, ever the two-for-one guy, lies and offends with virtually every utterance. But the core ethos of too many people in his troupe seems to be to always lie or insult, if not do both at the same time, routinely. Vice Twerp Vance, that Yalie lawyer whose ten thumbs fumbling of the NCAA national football trophy was an exquisite metaphor for the man’s handling of facts and law in general, most recently declared that migrants are not entitled to due process. (Can someone please verify this man’s law school transcript?) Senator Grassley’s embarrassing attempt on tax day to defend or divert blame for the scandalous disappearing, sans due process, of Kilmar Arbrego Garcia was loudly rejected by constituents whom he apparently believed would fall for yet another diverting if not dissembling talking point or two. The White House Press Shrew, er, Secretary, takes a back seat to no one with her continuous stream of alternative facts, not to mention her juvenile inclination to take simple-minded cheap shops at actual and/or perceived opponents of the administration (e.g., “When Joe Biden was in the Oval Office — or upstairs in the residence sleeping, I’m not sure. …”). But here’s the thing: whether you are a nationally syndicated columnist, a reporter for a major news outlet, or Joe or Jenny Citizen, we need to demonstrate to these disrespectful third-rate intellects that we cannot be hoodwinked, no matter how many times a lie is repeated. We will not be deterred regardless of how many slurs are launched at us. The media has ample means and mechanisms to effectively broadcast annotated factual refutations throughout social and other channels, and every patriot should commit to ferreting out, and also distributing, the truth. Only if we critically and objectively ascertain and publicize the facts, and act upon them, will Americans exercise sound(er) judgment going forward.

Part 2: It’s Due Process Stupid, Not if Arbrego Garcia is Guilty or Innocent A friend made the solid point the other day that Arbrego Garcia’s activities, once his background is duly aired and judged, may warrant his deportation, and I readily agreed. But aren’t we clear that his blameworthiness is not the point of the controversy surrounding his disappearing to the El Salvadoran gulag? Due process, to which even non-citizens are entitled if one correctly interprets the law, including SCOTUS’s recent obtusely, even torturously, phrased ruling in Noem et al. v. Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, is the point. Today no one can answer the question of Garcia’s status as someone who ought to be deported because there has not been the necessary fact-finding, nor an adequate hearing to air those facts. The takeaway for Garcia and others who have also disappeared and are now detained in El Salvador (70-80% of whom may have been spirited away in the ICE web without any basis at all) is that the administration purposely bypassed bedrock civil liberties and the Constitution, and that cannot be permitted to achieve precedence as the M.O. of how the government interacts with citizens and non-citizens alike.

Part 3: Whatever Happened to the Insistence that the Worst Criminals would be the First People Deported and, Oh Yes, How About Those First Amendment Rights Meanwhile, Tom Homan, Donald Trump, and Kristi (“Rollie, Rollie, Rollie…I just want some ice on my wrist so I look better when I dance”…shoutout to Ayo and Teo) Noem, whose constant refrain has been that deportation efforts first and foremost target criminals and even violent gang members who might not yet have committed crimes in the US, are now sanctioning student visa revocations based upon relatively minor, and certainly non-violent, infractions (e.g., retail theft, DUIs, speeding, parking violations), and in some instances, without any basis at all. While by no means condoning such behavior, I recognize that this is another example where the Trump administration has enunciated an arguably laudable policy goal, but only as a pretext to abuse its power to certain people’s, and our nation’s, detriment. I.e., sound policy ends do not justify unlawful or abusive means. While I never shoplifted, I must admit that as a much younger man I got behind the wheel when I suspect I had no business driving…but for the grace of God go I. Moreover, deportation is a grossly disproportionate penalty for the types of crimes which are being cited. One revocation evidently pertains to a woman whose only transgression reported to date is her editorial in a student newspaper. (It is useful to recite the First Amendment here: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Note there are no distinctions drawn for citizens or non-citizens lawfully permitted to be here.) I suppose there are circumstances under which a politically active individual may step over the “line” so as to justify deportation, without committing any crime per se. I write that with grave reservations since I consider the factual threshold to warrant that to be exceptionally high. But overall, as noted, what we seem to be witnessing is the game of applying the “hammer”, of an arguably sound policy, to pound as many nails as can be found, whether or not they deserve striking. God bless us nails, every one.

Tariff Deal-Making Pronouncements Become Parodies of Used Car or Rug Dealer Going Out of Business Commercials

I suppose it is possible that Trump’s efforts to forge bilateral trade deals with individual nations eventually may succeed to some degree, or at least produce some outcomes which enable him to declare he has “won.” (The US may well not win at the same time, bear in mind.) But, as of now, the administration’s frequent exclamations during the past few weeks that scores of countries were burning the phone lines to the White House to cut deals have begun to ring hollow. When Scott Bessent exhorts our former trading allies to be “first movers”, the proverbial beads of panicky sweat become apparent. The reported feedback thus far to the US’s entreaties for treaties, almost universally, has been, well, crickets. (E.g., reactions range from Japan’s Prime Minister commenting that he was in no rush to make a deal to China’s “go pound sand.”) The administration’s pitches have begun to come across like poorly produced ads by used car dealers, Persian rug retailers, and other merchants with bloated inventories. Will a BOGO pitch be forthcoming soon? Or a punchy “Get your trade deal while supplies last” invite?

Many years ago a fellow nicknamed Crazy Eddie gained notoriety for his brassy commercials and the tag line that his pricing was “insane.” Eddie eventually was investigated for insurance, tax, and securities fraud, and indicted on securities fraud and insider tradin g, after which he fled abroad before being extradited and sentenced to prison. His penal comeuppance distinguishes him from the Ochre Ogre who infamously has avoided his own day of reckoning, so far. Eddie’s story also differs from Trump’s in another important respect. He actually delivered on selling electronics at pretty low prices whereas Donny’s promises more often than not just don’t pan out.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me (Shout out to Martin Niemöller)

This far along in the information age, and with so many ways at our disposal of getting information, we Americans ironically appear to be ever more dangerously uninformed. Moreover, the Trump regime is committed to ensuring we do not arm ourselves with facts through its core tactics of opacity, misdirection, and outright lying when it comes to its activities. Our massive knowledge deficits, however, cannot only be blamed on Trump, Bondi, Rubio, and the Administration’s other clowns. Our education system evidently fails to teach history, civics, or ethics in adequate doses. People en masse focus on chyrons to stay abreast rather than read paragraphs, much less chapters, and certainly not, God forbid, entire books.

But to be clear, our lack or under-appreciation of facts, however caused, is being weaponized by the Trump band. Our ADD and empty minds play into their hands. Take for instance their outrageous disregard of civil liberties and dismissive attitude towards those elements of the judiciary which try to enforce the law (and thereby buttress the vitality of long-held American values and beliefs) in order to effectuate their misguided and inhumane mass deportation campaign.

If one wished to know, they would be hard-pressed to obtain reliable data on how many people have been deported since January 20, 2025. While many deportations presumably have occurred in accordance with due process and other legal requirements, and should occur, it is increasingly clear that far too many people have been illegally snatched off the streets and ejected from the country, and often when there are no allegations, much less documentable facts, that they have done anything to warrant the disruption or destruction of their lives (not to mention those of their families, employers, friends, etc.).

If you are not acquainted with the tragic circumstances of Kilmar Arbrego Garcia or Andry Romero or reportedly approximately 80% of the other people to date extrajudicially sent to El Salvador, or approximately 6,000 immigrants with Social Security numbers authorized to work in the US but now to be deprived of benefits, or an estimated 530,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan people originally permitted to be in the US under the CHNV Parole Program who are now being coerced to abruptly uproot themselves and leave the country, it behooves you to read up on these human beings and their circumstances. Theirs may be trial runs for US citizens’ tribulations if the Trump/Bondi/Miller Axis of Evil, and the $50,000 Rolodex-toting DHS Secretary Noem, have their way in disappearing those citizens among us for whom they do not care.

Secretary of State Rube Rubio observed today, in explaining why Mr. Garcia’s dire situation was even beyond the reach of the Supreme Court, that “the foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the president of the United States, not by a court, and no court in the United States has a right to conduct a foreign policy of the United States.” Now let us clearly understand the implications of that correct but overly general and abstract statement which, however, is improperly made in this context. Rubio is contending that the government can seize ANYONE and extrajudicially disappear them to a foreign state using the fig leaf of conducting foreign policy, and no court, even the Supreme Court, has the authority to do anything about it. Wow! Write Congress. Make a placard and march. Do something!

If I Had a Tariff, I’d Tariff in the Morning…

Only because (I suspect) he can spell it, Donny never met a tariff he didn’t like. No matter that his wholly uninformed application of this oxycontin-like trade tool (given the harm its abuse can cause) has obliterated immense wealth (aka varying degrees of financial security for millions of people and economy-strengthening capital that benefits us all) in 48 hours’ time, while setting the stage for further havoc in the form of runaway inflation, a recession, and Lord only knows what comes next. (Jeepers, the world, according to the Bible, was created in six days…who in their right minds would give this dummy more than two?) We might even LOL about how tariffs have been imposed on two small islands only occupied by penurious penguins, awesome existential threats to our economic health if ever there were.

But some of us may fail to appreciate just how much, after betraying Ukraine and dismembering virtually every security alliance which took decades to forge, and staffing our own national security and defense leadership positions with incompetent misfits, Trump’s tariff tackiness has added fuel to the fire of the distrust and even loathing our former allies are increasingly feeling towards the US.

Meanwhile, lest we not notice, Elon’s much more stupid older bro’ flies off to Mar-a-Lago for his ninth weekend there since being inaugurated. Among other diversions, Donny gave remarks at a $1 million dollar-a-person candlelight dinner Friday held by a Trump super PAC and will attend a LIV Golf dinner at his Doral club. (Far from the fig leaf sprouted during Trump 1.0 that he would not be involved in his business interests as President, Donny is content to take time away from Oval Office tasks in order to very openly curry favor with LIV so he might continue to sidle up to LIV’s and the Saudi’s teats and host LIV’s tourneys at his courses. I know that is a grossly offensive visual, but today I feel grossly offended.)

Never you mind that, in order to conduct such business and pleasure, Donny chose to forego Friday’s dignified transfer of four U.S. soldiers who died in a training accident in Lithuania. As many of you know, I borrowed from the Pete Seeger, Lee Hays protest song “If I had a Hammer” in opening the thought for the day. Well, that song remains remarkably instructive. We ourselves need a hammer today more than ever to elevate justice (since the DOJ has dropped the word from its day-to-day activities), and ring the bell of freedom to liberate not only those unlawfully expelled from the country, but the media, law firms, schools, and virtually every other element in our society which is under assault. Last but certainly not least, we could all use more “love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land.”

The Reason is Simple: He Hates Us

From cab drivers to welders to nurses to scholars, and all in between, so many of us speculate about having elected someone to serve us as president who undeniably has this country’s worst interests at heart. He exempts from his prosperity-killing tariffs the likes of Russia, Cuba, Belarus, and North Korea, but otherwise includes the entire international community which formerly had aligned itself with the US economically and militarily, with 80 years of relative peace and economic progress to show for it. He demolishes the federal government in the name of “efficiency” and the rooting out of “waste and fraud.” He listens to a loony tunes Laura Loomer (who, it might be said, compares less favorably to such standards of awfulness as exemplified by Rasputin and Benedict Arnold) about whom to fire given Signal-Gate, rather than retire the pitifully sorry likes of Pete Hegseth. He sanctions the wholesale disregard of due process and dispatches wholly innocent people to an off-shore prison where they sleep on communal metal beds, and that is the least of their deprivation. He shamelessly and stupidly sells out allies like Ukraine. He disparages and dismisses both the legislative and judicial branches, and takes every opportunity to denigrate his political opponents rather than work to identify opportunities to collaboratively improve this country. If his lips are moving, rest assured he is lying. So why, oh why, is he doing all this? We search too deeply for answers, my friends. It is simple. He hates anyone who questions him. He hates anyone who does not genuflect to him or cede total power to him. He harbors decades of bitter resentment for a nation where so many know him for what he is, an ignorant sociopathic narcissist, liar and thief, and failed would-be tycoon who only judges life in terms of money, his own. In brief, he hates the United States. You may disagree only if you disregard everything he has said and done for a decade, and especially since January 20, 2025. Aristotle observed that “…tyrants are always fond of bad men, because they love to be flattered, but no man who has the spirit of a freeman in him will lower himself by flattery…” So, given the toadies with whom he has surrounded himself, who will save us from him? Where is our next Roosevelt? Our next Washington? Our next Lincoln?

Say His Name: Kilmar Arbrego Garcia (You could be Next)

Kilmar Abrego Garcia came to the US in 2011 from El Salvador and is a legal resident protected by a 2019 court order that prevented him from being sent back to his home country. For some time he has lived in Maryland with his wife and 5-year-old child, who is autistic and intellectually disabled. Both Mr. and Mrs. Garcia work full-time. On March 12, after finishing his shift as a sheet metal worker and picking up his child, Garcia was pulled over and arrested by Homeland Security agents. He has since arrived at El Salvador’s notorious Mega-Prison, having originally left El Salvador fourteen years ago after receiving death threats levelled at him by gangs in an attempt to extort his parents, according to his attorneys. Despite there having been not a shred of evidence presented to support the allegation by an unknown informant of Mr. Garcia’s gang ties, Vice Twerp Vance nevertheless falsely asserted on X that Garcia was a “convicted MS-13 gang member.” (What’s another lie among friends?) Meanwhile, the Don, in keeping with his soul-less and cruel instincts, reportedly is opposed to prevailing upon the El Salvadoran government, to which the Don is annually paying $6 million of taxpayer money to house deportees, and which is otherwise beholden to the Don, to return Mr. Garcia to the US. One can only speculate about how many more Kilmar Garcias have been snatched away to the El Salvadoran gulag, and how many of them have since been harmed or worse. What is undeniable is that there are blameless deportees and their loved ones who have been viciously traumatized. One is a 31-year-old gay make-up artist from Venezuela, who had no criminal history, but was seized because of his tattoo. Such horrific rights violations by the federal government, normally associated with Russia, Iran, and other rogue states, continue to be revealed daily. My own tattoo reads “Grit Truth Kindness.” I just hope no gang has adopted that litany as its motto. So today, as you count your blessings, pray for victims of our government’s tyranny like Kilmar Arbrego Garcia and give thanks that you are not one. But stay tuned, since tomorrow you could be.

The American Taliban, or Nobody Ever Won a War When Its Weapon of Choice is Semantics

SecDef’s, Press Sec’s, Vice Twerp’s, and Fearless Orange Guy’s spin on the Yemen Signal fiasco is a mix of semantics and just plain lies, topped by slandering the media. None of these “tactics” are spear points that protect the US’s vital interests or inspire confidence in our government institutions. These devices are just the ploys of inherently dishonest, weak, under-informed and under-formed people who traipse around, in positions for which they are horribly un-qualified, like so many children wearing Mom’s and Dad’s shoes and pretending they are adults. In unison (for the most part), we Americans decry the inhumane, lawless, and/or incompetent governance by some regimes such as the Taliban in Afghanistan. We are outraged by their suppression of dissent; their seizure and corruption of institutions such as the judiciary; their wholesale disenfranchisement of citizens given their gender, faith, occupation, or political bent; their ineptitude when “managing” the economy (and God forbid they mismanage defense or other security matters!), etc. Here’s to say no one will be able to duck low enough to avoid the mayhem being unleashed and passed off by these jokers that all’s good and it’s business as usual.

Taking stock: As Bad as Things Seem to be, They are Actually Worse than That

Where does one begin to prioritize the numerous awful things happening to our country? Is it the US Attorney General publicly demeaning the Federal Judiciary and routinely making outlandish misstatements about the law? Is it Trump’s treachery as he unilaterally disarms us by demolishing our alliances, forsaking Ukraine (and rest assured he is doing that), and unconditionally surrendering in the fight for the hearts and minds (and lives) of millions worldwide by ending the VOA and similar media operations, and USAID? Or is it emptying our various federal government functions of the best and the brightest true patriots? Watching P. Hegseth, appearing every bit like the Howdy Doody puppet he is, hanging from the strings manipulated by his Don who is seated nearby watching, breathlessly mouth the disingenuous explanation that there was never an undertaking to share top secret US-Sino war plans with a fella with vast vested interests in China, one might not help but feel, well, helpless. (Incidentally, I still suspect such sharing is apt to occur.) One could despair that Trump and his minions are well on their way to executing the wholesale retribution on the American people and our institutions which he promised, and the destruction of our entire way of life in the course of doing so. (There was a time when I would label all that hyperbole.) One could feel helpless. One could despair. But God help us if we do.

From Old Glory to No Guts, No Glory

Mark Twain is credited with the observation that “It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.” When it comes to the GOP (my former party affiliation) and far too many “leading” American businesspeople, their stores of moral courage make rare earth (whatever that it is) by comparison seem as un-rare as the grains of sand on all the beaches in this world. Allies abandoned and attacked by outright stupid military, economic, and diplomatic fits. Our federal government’s critical functions deliberately gutted by a combination of idiocy, cruelty, and ultimately the intent to impose an autocracy. A blatant undertaking to castrate our system of justice by trying to force law firms, which the Orange Administration considers hostile, out of existence, amidst murmurs that federal judges who issue sound decisions ought to be impeached. And lest we neglect to mention it, the continuous deluge of categorically false information that flows from the Oval Office, the Press Secretary, the Speaker, and various Cabinet members, but essentially no effort by other Republicans to push back. So many people quite evidently of very dubious character, clothed in important-sounding titles, remaining silent? I only wish Mr. Twain were here today to comment.

Snatching Catastrophe from the Mouth of (Relative) Bliss

First, Orange Guy and Vice Twerp berate the besieged Ukrainian leader for not being grateful. Now reportedly Secretary of State Rubio, that hawk turned chicken, has levelled the ingrate charge against the Foreign Minister of Poland in a call with that gentleman and President Musk. Elon proceeded to pile on in his usual charming and projecting manner by calling Radoslaw Sikorski a “small man.” There is a theme here. Having compromised Ukrainian security and also that of the western European alliance, this domestic axis of evil also requires effusively submissive expressions of appreciation to follow from those whom they have sought to humiliate, and whose lives they have imperiled. So campers, as the MAGA-Project 25 crowd gut critical governmental functions, starve programs which sustain the welfare of tens of millions of people, and concoct existential health, national security, environmental, financial, and other crises for the US, where no such fates seemed imminent before January 20, 2025, let us schedule a Day of National Prostration. To that end, I have already ordered my own sack cloth. Better to be prepared than not.

Just Spitballing Here: Could we trade Musk to Vlad for a few cases of some decent vodka?

Many of us are over Elon. The guy is rather full of himself. That is no crime. If everyone with an inflated impression of themselves was guilty of a crime, prisons in this country would be overflowing with many oligarchs and other over-indulged, self-idealizing folk. But I know many people who are tired of Elon and especially concerned about his ineptitude when it comes to government, and his unconcealed lust for fascistic leaders. Not to mention the incredible harm he has inflicted upon individuals formerly employed by the federal government, and those still on the payroll and on whom Elon’s guillotine will in turn drop. What to do, what to do? Thinking out of the box, and inspired as the NFL enters the free agency period, I speculate: could we trade Elon to Vlad, or should we simply cut him from our roster? As for a trade, I’d be in favor of giving the guy away for the proverbial bag of balls, or perhaps just a half-consumed mediocre quality bottle of vodka. Heck, I might throw some cash into the deal if Vlad is interested. Let Vlad have Elon. That might be the best poison pill Vlad might swallow.

If we can keep it (as we whistle past the graveyard)

Somewhere for filling in the very near future, “they” are digging this nation’s grave. “They” are Messrs. Trump, Vance, Rubio, Waltz, and a larger coterie of worshippers of oligarchs, dictators, murderers, criminals, and creeps. Not a single patriotic impulse to be found among them. The silver lining is that Bezos’ utter lack of guts and/or hyper greed has enabled me to break my Amazon/Whole Foods addiction in one fell swoop.

“Political Capital” Hooey

“Political Capital” is a term that is rolled out as though we all know what it means and it is an immutable truth. In its most recent iteration, the phrase has been cited repeatedly to suggest that there is some calculable and accepted limit to the Senate’s advice and consent responsibilities related to the filling of the forthcoming administration’s cabinet and other posts that require Senate confirmation. The term has been applied in the context of the nomination of a DOD Secretary who would deprive our military, at a time when recruiting targets are chronically unfulfilled, of proven resources who happen to be women, or gut the senior officer corps, out of a vastly overblown obsession with “DEI in the military” or who really is to blame for the Afghanistan withdrawal. The limits of political capital have been cited as the reason for accepting a Director of National Intelligence whose beliefs, and possibly whose loyalty, have direct plumb lines to al-Assad and Putin. In truth, what we really are observing is not some fact of nature known as “political capital”, but the prospect that too many senators will spout those two words as the fig leaf to rationalize their failure to exert their expressly conferred constitutional authority, in order to wade in the shallow end of political, moral, and/or policy cowardice.

Citizens United has made American Oligarchs as Great or Greater Threats to the US than Russia’s

Much is made of Vladimir Putin and Russian oligarchs whom he controls (or who control him), in one manner or another, to perpetuate his regime, which understandably is perceived as an existential threat to the US and the world more broadly.

But, especially in the aftermath of the ill-advised SCOTUS Citizens United decision which held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by essentially anyone, and as demonstrated by the likes of Elon Musk ($119 million donated to Trump), Timothy Mellon ($172 million), the Adelson family ($135 million), Dick and Liz Uihlein ($128 million), and the list goes on and on, Russian oligarchs are not the oligarchs which give me the greatest concern.

The total donations by just those four sources, approximating $552 million (a figure which may be outdated and low), approximates 55% of the reported $1 billion raised by the Harris campaign (which has also benefited from deep-pocket donors) in the three month period ending September 30.

Elon Musk has numerous lines of business which stand to benefit, or not, depending upon who is President. Does any reasonable person consider Mr. Musk to be principally acting altruistically in his political funding decisions?

His self-interested motivation is not per se evil; it is human nature. There is also a healthy dose of an altruistic impulse in many people.

The point is that a donor’s motivation is irrelevant; the impact of that donation is not.

So when a very few immensely wealthy people, some of whom have earned their wealth while others won the inheritance lottery, can invest such extraordinary sums to elect a character such as Donald Trump, the “real enemy within” is a legal structure which facilitates the corruption of our elections in favor of a very few, rather than “the people.”

Hopefully not redundant but I’m adding a variety of thoughts hereafter that I had been too lazy to insert here in the past.

The president and vice president did ambush Zelenskyy. (In the spirit of pettiness which has become a national pastime, the lower case usage is intentional.) While neither the Prez nor the Veep served in combat (Vance did have a six month stint in Iraq as a military journalist but not in combat), JD made the strong point that he actually “watched and [had] seen the stories”. Contrast that with Zelenskyy who is understandably a desperate man striving to save his nation from Russian aggression. So he might be forgiven for how he dresses, but his attire was deemed an appropriate matter for comment. English is not his native tongue, but no one listening these past three years could have missed the numerous, heartfelt expressions of gratitude to the US for its support over that time, including more than once this past Friday. Similarly, any sentient observer could not have overlooked the other contrived criticisms and simply childishly petty remarks spouted by the Vice Twerp and Musk’s puppet (e.g., “We gave you…$350 billion.”; “don’t tell us what we’re going to feel…”; “let’s go litigate those disagreements, rather than trying to fight it out in the American media, when you’re wrong. We know that you’re wrong.”; “You got to be more thankful, because, let me tell you, you don’t have the cards.”). JD’s diplomatic acumen, not to mention lawyerly chops, were epitomized when the Yale Law grad interrogated Zelenskyy with a question that every first year law student anywhere would agree is akin to asking “Have you stopped beating your wife?” when he asked “…do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?” With friends like these two…

DOGE’s Toxic Ripples

The immediate turmoil caused by DOGE’s ham-handed undertaking to cut expenses is the financial and other dislocation it is causing so many citizens. This rock thrown into the American pond will trigger increasingly harmful ripples to more and more individuals, families, communities, and businesses. As hideous as that is to reflect upon, much less experience first-hand, it occurs to me that, if I worked in Intel, or at the DOD in another capacity, and was fired, how likely am I to take up another trade (butcher, baker, candlestick maker?) rather than peddle my hard- and long-earned experience, expertise, and “insider” information to another willing employer? And, if family and/or financial or other pressures, or wants, are great enough, how many people in such a position will of necessity, or from vengeance, or other desperate or anguished motivation, sell their wares to the highest bidder, even if the new boss is hostile, or even an existential threat, to their former employer? Is it really possible, as it might appear, that no consideration was given to such a potential, and certainly obvious, consequence and the ripples it can trigger?

Art of the Schlemeil: Let’s Quit Pussyfooting Around: Invade Ukraine

Now that, among other measures, the Trump regime has been outspoken in supporting Putin’s regime; halted cyber activities against Russia; paused military aid to Ukraine; ceased sharing intelligence with Ukraine, and gone to great lengths to bully and humiliate its President, I implore the Trump/Vance intriguers: let’s stop nibbling and just invade Ukraine. We can be part of pincer strategy with Putin and thereby secure our 50% of Ukraine’s rare earth (if Putin agrees of course); acquire a huge hunk of the European land mass, and be more strongly positioned to invade the remainder of Europe en route to Greenland. That in turn also puts the US in a better position to invade Canada. Why let Putin grab all the riches? Takers anyone?

Elon’s $288 Million+/- Cash to Donald’s Campaign is an Astute Business Move. Too Bad for the Rest of Us.

Through PAC, personal, and who-knows-what-other channels, Elon “invested” an estimated $288 million in the Don’s 2024 presidential campaign, reportedly including approximately $263 million directed at getting out the vote. Gee, I wonder how the outcome might have been different had laws been in force which placed some restraints (e.g., an outright dollar limitation, a donor tax, limits on uses?) on uber wealthy oligarchs who seek to buy an election and thereby control our government. But I digress. My actual point is to applaud Elon for the savvy expansion of his buy-an-authoritarian line item in his 2024 budget. Elon’s estimated $13.8 billion in government contracts since 2020 (including $3.8 billion in 2024 alone) for his various interests (e.g., Tesla, SpaceX) dwarf his support of the Orange Ogre. (It must be noted that democrat as well as GOP administrations are responsible for Elon’s dominant position.) Every businessperson or investor would appreciate such a return. The costs which are incalculable, however, are not borne by Elon and Trump’s coterie of oligarchs, but the rest of us. Elon’s elan: Why buy or rent a cow when you can steal the milk?

Joey Isuzu’s Got Nothing on Donny Tesla

One of my favorite commercials in bygone days was the one starring David Leisure depicting a pathological liar who made vastly exaggerated, if not outrageously false, claims about Isuzu automobiles. Of course, the humor was hatched because the character’s demeanor was so insincere and his statements were so patently misleading. So it is that the Madison Avenue caricature of the slippery salesguy has moved from the relatively benign medium of TV ads to the White House lawn thanks to Donny Tesla and his sidekick President Musk. There is another distinction to be drawn between Joey and Donny. Whereas it was intended that the viewer understand that sleazy Joey’s remarks were not reliable (that was the entire point after all), Donny calculates that a good number of people will consider his utterances to be gospel, or at least serve to cast uncertainty about the converse of what he maintains, which invariably are well-documented facts. Another difference is the scope of Joey’s prevarications compared to Donny’s. Whereas Joey only shamelessly lied about one particular car brand, Donny sees the world as his oyster when it comes to fibbing. He does not play favorites about what he chooses to fudge. Perhaps Donny should consider one possible moral from Isuzu’s experience and the currency of lies: As a result of low sales, it stopped trying to sell cars in the US in 2009.

When it comes to consuming resources in his life, the Orange Ogre prefers using OPM (other people’s money). When it comes to governance and deciding what is dispensable, O²favors sacrificing OPR (other people’s rights). When it comes to immigrants, allies, non-oligarch types like most of us, the Great Pumpkin is perfectly content to compromise or even terminate OPL (other people’s lives).

VOA now DOA by Donald

I wonder how those “stalwart” GOP/MAGA types in Congress and for that matter nationwide will rationalize Orange Guy now silencing the Voice of America. When the powers-that-be in Beijing and Moscow loudly rejoice at this news, how much more of a “tell” does anyone need to recognize that Trump is a traitor to our country? Given the initial readouts of today’s Putrid-Dump talks which resulted in very little for Ukraine and a big win for Putin (no limits on his war crimes against civilians and a cease fire on energy infrastructure which is not a priority target anyway for him as the spring weather arrives), the evidence just accumulates that Donald is betraying not only Ukraine, but America. He is feverishly folding America’s hand (e.g., VOA, Western military alliances, our intel infrastructure and armed forces) in a very deliberate undertaking to take retribution on our nation. Yet crickets only from Republicans, every one of them a quisling.

Thoughts on Only One Week’s Headlines

When will we stop calling Scott Bessen a genius? When do we start calling him a spineless, intellectually dishonest harpy?

Trump’s great tariff strategy is a gargantuan “policy” whiff.

Are we tired yet of “winning”, Donny-style?

I always knew Putin had leverage on Trump, but am surprised that evidently, the big winner from the catastrophic tariff plan, China, evidently does as well.

With the dismantling of USAID, including the firing of the only three personnel on the ground in Myanmar which makes the US contribution to post-earthquake aid illusory, Trump gives another middle finger to the rest of the world.

I will not apologize for criticizing people who fail to fulfill the bare minimum duty of a citizen, to know their nation’s history and that of the world at large and especially that of their nation’s adversaries. Whether lazy or ignorant or in a state of denial, they are most blameworthy.

For those of us who so strongly opposed so many of Trump’s actions, but remain silent, or impassive, or acquiescent, perhaps we ought to pause before we criticize the GOP in Congress for essentially doing the exact same thing.

If I bought rockets, I’d boycott musk SpaceX. Since I can’t afford a rocket, I’ll just never buy a Tesla.

Ukraine and the Sudetenland and Donald and Neville: People as Pawns and Stooges as Statesmen

The only difference is that Trump is not even as benign as Chamberlain. Chamberlain was an immensely naïve guy. DJT is Adolph’s mini me and Putin’s butt boy. Chamberlain was clueless and also was very unwell physically. Not that his shortcomings and ailments excuse his horrific miscalculation about Hitler. Trump knowingly is condoning the invasion of a sovereign country and hideous war crimes against a general population, and quite deliberately giving aid to an adversary who is entirely opposed to the American way of life. As between Neville and Donald, I guess I’d have to settle for Neville.

Please consider doing something!

Finally, of course you have been wondering what is the difference between the Emmy-nominated comedian Demetri Martin and Donald Trump? One of the former’s jokes is:

I used to play sports. Then I realized you can buy trophies. Now I am good at everything.

Donald never really was a sportsman (at least not in a healthy way), so he bought his trophies, if he could not extort them. (Apologies to my wise attorney friend who has admonished me about accusing Donald of uncharged crimes.)

Why should I bother checking out this blog?

That is a puzzle, eh? With so much noise coming at each of us every second of every day online and through other channels, do we really need another voice or outlet, particularly one that, I acknowledge, may not add any content that enriches the public discourse? No, we do not. But I am not standing up this blog to enrich anything, but as a healthy and lawful means of getting some thoughts off my chest, and sharing other matters that I consider interesting or important. I don’t seek positive reinforcement (I could not care less about that), but I do hope that another possible consequence might be to encourage others to start their own blogs and express their views in other healthy and lawful ways. Writing to politicians who will never read, or worse dismiss, the incoming, or sending letters to the editor which are routed to the circular file, or even carrying a placard in a peaceful demonstration, do not strike me as sufficient for these times. So as for this blog, just like Wilford Brimley used to say about oatmeal, “It’s the right thing to do.” And I yearn to identify other healthy and lawful measures I might consider taking, and so a third objective of this blog is that people enlighten me about those.

Houthi Missile in Tel Aviv and Russian May Day Tradition in DC: Warrior Ethos My Ass

Celebrating the hallowed and illustrious history of the US Army in some manner, like our veterans more generally, is a very worthy undertaking to be sure.

But, at a time when Americans have already suffered enormous reductions in household wealth, or lost their jobs, or incurred significant additional living expenses, all of which is directly and solely Donald’s doing, spending upwards or $100 million or more so he can try to satiate his obsession for honors and adoration (which most Americans and much of the world would never entertain conferring on this felon), this is more than unseemly. It is absolutely nauseating.

I reckon Dwight Eisenhower’s thinking so many years ago are worth remembering here:

Oh well.

Hey Signal Guy, Diversity is Not the Opposite of Unity

Pete Hegseth has spoken, declaring “Diversity is not our strength. Unity is.” Oh Petey, did you pay the same guy to take your SATs as Donald did? Diversity’s synonyms include variety and heterogeneity, and numerous other benign descriptive terms which are not inconsistent with unity. Some antonyms of unity include antagonism, denial, discord, dissension, and division. Hmmm. I’m just spit-balling here Signal Guy, but I am picking up more of a “pot calling the kettle black” vibe from you than any truth, or even a remotely astute observation. I could say your mediocre intellect’s various pronouncements are just so much “putting lipstick on the pig” and that would only be near the mark. You verbalizing such outlandish stupidity is closer to what the pig produces at the other end.

Oligarchs Get Richer, Over and Under the Table, While Trump Ends a Program that Benefits Non-Oligarchs and Aids the Environment

May 20, 2025

It’s Not a Red or Blue, Dem or GOP, Liberal or Conservative Issue: It’s Our Collective Survival

Trump’s Yen for Unqualified Unaccomplished but Hostile Nominees Attains New Heights with the IRS (And Thom Tillis is All for It!)

Another credible observation about Long the seedy pitchperson is his role in marketing so-called “tribal tax credits” that the IRS has stated actually do not exist, but the touting of which have enriched Mr. Long.

Oh my.

Ed Martin: If We Cannot Indict You, We Can Still Call You Names

DOJ (Department of Jerks) Lackey Ed Martin, whose official title is Director of the newly formed “weaponization working group” at Justice, one of Trump’s many freedom suppression tactics, proudly made one of the most profoundly idiotic (and of course wholly inappropriate) declarations when he said, referring to Trump’s growing list of perceived political enemies, “If they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them. And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed.”

Well, I’ll grant Eddie one thing: If Donald Trump, Rolodex-toting but wholly clueless Kristi Noem, Trashy Kash Patel, Lil’ Marco Rubio, The Talented JD Vance, Pam the Sham Bondi, and a number of other “colleagues” of Donald should understand anything, it is being ashamed.

Ed Martin is one special dude. Martin’s nomination for U.S. attorney was withdrawn after some Republican senators, assuming a rare principled stance, indicated that they wouldn’t vote to confirm him because of his work defending January 6 rioters, highlighted by his praise for one Nazi-sympathizing rioter who had taken a picture of himself dressed as dictator Adolf Hitler. But defending January 6 criminals is not Ed’s only claim to fame.

During his thankfully ever so brief tenure as interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Martin materially contributed to the gutting of the DOJ by firing more than a dozen federal prosecutors whose common failing was their work on January 6 cases. Additionally Martin demoted seven senior lawyers, including the two prosecutors who led the January 6 team, to low-level roles in D.C. Superior Court, which handles local prosecutions.

On Apr. 14, Martin sent a list of questions to the editor of Chest magazine, a medical journal published by the American College of Chest Physicians. The letter accused the journal and others like it of “being partisans in various scientific debates” and asked a series of contentious questions, such as “How do you clearly articulate when you have certain viewpoints that are influenced by your ongoing relations with supporters, funders, advertisers, and others?” and “How do you handle allegations that authors of works in your journals may have misled readers?”

Two other medical journal publishers received similar letters, The New York Times reported. The letters have raised grave concerns about curbing free speech and government intimidation of scientific publications.

What is Character?

“Character” is a term that’s tossed around a lot, including by me. So I have been obsessing about what it really means, or at least what I mean when I use it.

Character is a very full-bodied ideal as I see it. Without character, very bad decisions are far more likely to be made, bad because they are shortsighted, amoral, illegal, cruel, or simply stupid. People with genuine character exhibit a vigor for integrity (intellectual and transactional honesty), courage, and uncompromising adherence to core common Judeo-Christian-Islamic-Buddhist-Hindu principles (i.e., which I consider to be aptly summed up by justice, compassion, and social responsibility). For me, that boils down to five words: Do the right thing, always.

What is “right” is not difficult to discern. It is not some ambiguous concept. Whether we admit it or not, we all know it when we witness it, and we all notice when it is not practiced.

Turning to a list I’ve been compiling, what follows is my verdict on bad and good moves by Trump since entering office in January. I might have considered giving him a few more positive grades for certain matters (e.g., expelling violent criminals who are illegal aliens) had his actions actually addressed, and been commensurate with, those objectives about which he merely spouts nice sounding rhetoric.

Donny T’s Naughty Not Nice List for Santa (In no particular order)

Trump’s Naughty List

Ukraine betrayal
1. National (In)security Policy Document
1. Conceding the EV, AI, and every other market to China
1. Defunding medical and scientific research
1. Killing the Golden Goose in higher education in America, but first looting lucre from it
1. Championing specious and dangerous healthcare recommendations to citizens (e.g., Tylenol, vaccinations)
1. Expelling many of the “best and brightest” from the US or preventing or discouraging (i.e., $100,000 visas?!) their entry in the first place
1. Depleting the workforce through misguided migrant and immigration policy
1. Abandoning the environment
1. Undermining military preparedness in favor of misdirected DEI hysteria
1. Meathead Hegseth (need more be said?)
1. Eviscerating tried and true foreign alliances
1. Glorifying (and acquiescing to) tyrants Putin and Orban
1. Monetizing the presidency for self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment (e.g., crypto and digital coins, Saudi money, etc.) for his family and select oligarchs
1. Abusing tariff authority
1. The Big Beautiful Bill
1. Gutting or corrupting essential federal resources (e.g., DOJ, FBI, HHS)
1. Terminating vital soft power foreign activities such as USAID, VOA, and PEPFAR, resulting in, among other outcomes, the deaths of many people including children
1. Using the military domestically
1. Stephen Miller. Really?!?!?!?!?!?
1. (Not n)Ice (‘nuf said)
1. Facilitating the consolidation of influence, if not absolute control, in major media in oligarchs who espouse extreme political and social ideology
1. Abusing executive order authority (e.g., designating ANTIFA as a terrorist organization)
1. Pushing competency and experience out of government in favor the converse (can anyone spell Thomas Fugate? Billy Long?)
1. Exploiting tragedies for political points (e.g., Charlie Kirk)
1. Cruelty manifest in statements and actions as a national policy and his preferred talking points
1. Scapegoating military heroes and other vets
1. Creeping nationalization of domestic companies
1. Substantiating the term TACO by continually exhibiting that, like the bully he is, he is also a coward
1. Normalizing prevarication
1. Appointing inept, inexperienced, or amoral people to mission-critical positions
1. Using millions in military hardware and personnel to blow up unsubstantiated “drug” boats and kill those on board (rather than detaining the occupants to obtain intel and justify such actions)
1. Blighting the White House to make it a party place for oligarchs paid with funds extorted from “friends”
1. Pardoning lowlifes left and right
2. Renee Good RIP
3. Alex Pretti, like Renee, the best of us. RIP

Trump’s Nice List

Never accused of having overdue library books (but, then again, never read one book in the first place)
He doesn’t drink or smoke or take illegal drugs (but would it improve the man if he did?)

The speaker of the house speaks with a forked tongue.

Speaking of tongues, have you ever, or perhaps better phrased, how many times have you bitten yours after hearing an inane, categorically false, or downright venal statement from Mike Johnson? Johnson has indulged in so many lies and nonsensical observations that he appears to be giving his master, Donald T., a run for his money. But Mike has Trump beaten in the respect that he clings to his Bible and his credentials as a constitutional lawyer and scholar while routinely defying the teachings of the Bible and the provisions of the Constitution, and sundry other laws.

A modest sampling of Johnson’s screeds and counterpoints demonstrating his facile ability to talk out of both sides of his duplicitous pie-hole:

“Look, that’s not my lane. I’m not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested, but he ought to be tarred and feathered,” while also noting that “Civility is not something we should simply talk about one day and forget the next. It is a principle we should practice 365 days a year. The vitriol in our politics has led to a loss of trust in our institutions and even violent attacks upon elected officials.”

“Homosexual relationships are inherently unnatural and, the studies clearly show, are ultimately harmful and costly for everyone. Society cannot give its stamp of approval to such a dangerous lifestyle.” (“I respect the rule of law, but I also genuinely love all people, regardless of their lifestyle choices. The central idea of America is that we boldly declare the self-evident truths that all men are created equal. We have to return to the ideals that made our country great and to the idea that every person is worthy of dignity and respect.”

“I’m all in for President Trump.” (“Any fool who contends he has a natural right of supremacy over his neighbors violates not only the foundational creed of America, but the greatest commandments of the God who created him.”)

“American taxpayers expect and deserve to know where their hard-earned money is going and how it is being used.”

“It is only and always the Christian viewpoint that is getting censored. The fact is the left is always trying to shut down the voices of the Christians.”
“There are a lot of people in Washington who say things that are not accurate all the time.”

“My background before I got to Congress is in constitutional law.”

Ten Words to Live By

We Need to Pledge to Live the Pledge, not Just Recite it on Occasion

“…one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

I have decided to change my M.O. from now on. When I have participated in demonstrations from time to time (not often since I am such a busy guy), I craft placards which I consider pithy, even witty, in an effort to express my opinion.

No more. Today I bought an American flag which will be my “prop” in the future.

Is there any better symbol or more important message that I feel I can offer? No.

As humans, by nature we are hypocrites.

Our virtuosity as hypocrites varies, but we all are prone to spouting a position or belief and then contradicting that pronouncement in the next moment, and the next, and the next, and so forth.

As for me, once in a while I catch myself when I am a common charlatan speaking my “truth.” I have no doubt that I am oblivious at other times when I am only conning myself.

I am a frail human though and cannot change such behavior entirely.

But I have decided that I might be able to marshal my finite powers and try to live up to one short phrase which I have been reciting since I was 4 or 5 years old.

So, in the future, if you see me at a demonstration or another place, whether waving the flag or not, I hope, actually I pray, that those eleven words will guide me, especially how I engage other people, whether or not they agree with me.

Should you observe me not doing so, kindly tap me on the shoulder, and invite me to speak those eleven words with you.

Thanks for reading.

The Greatest Metaphor, the Likes of Which the World has Never Seen

It would be hilarious in a Hollywood script.

In Washington DC, it’s something else.

The sacrilege which permeates the manner in which Trump has instigated the demolition of a portion of arguably the quintessential symbol of this country, is beyond disrespectful, tragic, or outrageous. The dictionary no longer offers us words which are apt to describe what we are experiencing in this dark age.

Without so much as a feckless whimper of disagreement from (lower case) article one groundlings, the East Wing is in the process of being eliminated (much as our democracy is) in favor of a large party room. So, where once certain functions of our federal government were formerly housed, Donald “Small Hands” Trump will now host oligarchs and dictators and simpering sycophants with music, drink, and finger food, or more sumptuous vittles.

The proposed dimensions of this contemplated unserious edifice, this effort by Donald to create his version of the Great Sphinx, would dwarf the current footprint of our Nation’s best-recognized government building.

And so the grounds of one of three seats of our government will become a mausoleum for our heritage of legal process, regular order, and liberty, and, while we’re at it, any claim to legitimacy in the view of the rest of the world.

To me, accused as I regularly am of being a Debbie Downer, it’s just another harbinger of the death of a nation. Like a terminal illness, this may take more time, but there is no evident cure I can identify today.

The death of the United States, that is to say, appears a very grave possibility unless people rediscover their history, and our elected representatives (at least those who have not yet been corrupted by inebriation courtesy of the MAGA trough), summon the courage to vigorously, decisively, finally, push back.

The graveyard we have been whistling past beginning in 2015 is far in the rearview mirror.

We are no longer hearing air being melodiously pushed from our lips.

What I believe may now be serenading us is a song of sirens as we march into oblivion as a nation.

If one wished to argue that there is no God, the best argument I could think of is to say God would never created man. I grew up in a house, where affection was never exhibited as showings of emotion were strongly discouraged, if not penalized. However, that is no excuse. A better person, a stronger person, would overcome that. I was not that person for longest time and still perhaps am not. But I learned a lesson. if you are fortunate enough to find people to whom you can relate and whom you come to love, maybe even only like, never miss an opportunity to show them how you feel emotionally, physically, every way you can think. It is life energy source to feel liked to feel loved to feel valued.

Salami? Sure. But isn’t bologna far more apropos?

Perhaps the most hilarious video (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/guHF8FIyJdA) I’ve seen in a long time is the one of the gentleman, casually dressed in the de rigueur shorts and T-shirt ensemble one wears when picking up their salami sandwich from Subway, confronting federal officers, jumping up and down in front of one officer, as if beseeching him to see reason (but actually hurling some obscenities), and finally throwing his salami sandwich into the shoulder of the officer. He then turns and runs away as officers give chase. His gambol does not resemble so much one fleeing a crime as a taunting gait. The entire episode could have been a scene from the early Woody Allen film “Take the Money and Run.” Reports shared that the officer who was struck by the deli favorite could smell the mustard on him (spicy or yellow?…my money’s on yellow), and a piece of onion hung like an epaulette on his shirt. Apparently, thankfully, the sandwich was still intact, but no information is available as to whether it was eventually retrieved and consumed. As for me, I do not approve of throwing food at anyone and the officer on the receiving end did not deserve to be bombarded by luncheon meat. That said, given what this “administration” flings at us daily, who wouldn’t want to throw a salami sandwich at certain folks in the federal government?

Mulling over Blameworthiness and Responsibility

Before today’s shootings of two West Virginia National Guardsmen occurred, the most unfortunate aspect of their being in DC today was that evidently they would not be having Thanksgiving back home with their loved ones. That was no small thing for them; it just was not fatal to them.

The Guardsmen were in DC because, obedient to their oaths, they were following orders, however needless and performative.

By all accounts, their presence, if only optically rather than actually, made for a safer environment, and undeniably was benign, civil, and welcomed.

And there can be no equivocating that only one individual, the shooter, is to blame for their injuries or, God forbid, their deaths.

But, as unseemly as this may sound, there is another person who is responsible for families in West Virginia possibly no longer having a husband, a brother, a son, a father.

I speak of the bonehead in the White House, he of the fugazy bone spur medical deferment, who at other times referred to people in uniform as suckers and losers.

I speak of the ignoramus who is astounded and incensed that someone in the military should not follow an illegal order of his.

In law, there is a concept known as “actual cause.” The test for actual cause is simply “but for” a certain action, a certain outcome would not have occurred.

So there is also no equivocating about the observation that, but for Trump needlessly ordering those Guardsmen to DC, the mayhem visited upon some good and honorable people from West Virginia would never have occurred.

To all those in uniform, thank you for your service, and God bless.

Unless Someone Has a Better Idea

I have told my wife I want out of the United States. I do not want any association with a country that now is rivalling the most despotic regimes ever and deconstructing the greatest nation, and the most formidable international alliances the world has known. I can no longer stomach the purposeful, really gleeful, cruelty and lawlessness which is the signature of virtually every action and policy that characterizes Trump’s dictatorial rule. I am repelled by the immensely destructive ignorance which propels so many hideous policies and actions by Trump and his coterie of self-centered sycophants.

Friends and family tell me I’m over-reacting. I hope I am but fear I am not.

High bracket acquaintances, or uncourageous types, dismiss my view of Trump and what his brown shirts in and out of the Republican Party have done to our once-great country.

I no longer care what anyone thinks.

I want to die in a free country and one where I am proud of the principles for which it stands. That is no longer this place. And my feeling now is, it never will be that again.

Lafayette, Most of Us are Still “There” with You because We Never Left

General John “Black Jack” Pershing was reported to have spoken the words “Lafayette, we are here” upon landing in France to lead the American Expeditionary Forces alongside our allies in WWI.

The phrase has been carved in granite in our history since it symbolizes America’s gratitude for one ally’s support at this nation’s birth, and moreover epitomizes a value which has long been associated with the best of what is the United States of America: a stalwart friend to be depended upon to come to the aid of other democracies which are imperiled by aggressors.

These days, our immensely valued and longstanding alliance partners rightfully question if America irretrievably has gone to the dark side to stand alongside Russia, China, and other totalitarian systems, given the horrendously disrespectful treatment by that despicable renegade regime in DC.

When it comes to a current administration populated by so many shamelessly self-interested, criminally treasonous lowlifes, I ask the same question.

Perhaps overly pollyannish, I have decided to believe that such evil as is embodied by Trump and his toadies cannot endure very much longer.

I choose to believe that more and more citizens will demonstrate their disgust at, and rejection of, DJT, and those who would genuflect before him, and will increasingly act to frustrate these traitors (since that is what they are to our values) in word and peaceful deed, and certainly in droves this coming November.

Meanwhile, I wish I could reach out to all our friends in NATO and the EU, in Asia, the Pac Rim, Africa, and North and South America, and the Middle East, and give them a metaphorical embrace, and assure them that, even if it appears we have abandoned our hallowed commitments to them amidst the hyperbolically moronic actions of DJT and his amoral minions, we will once again join them as that well-meaning, if imperfect, best hope for democracy, civil liberties, and peace.

As the domestic polls increasingly suggest, more and more patriots are anguished and humiliated by the craven behavior and destructive decisions of that hideous creature who occupies the Oval Office.

DJT may appear to dominate American politics and all that means for now.

But he is not who America is. He never was and never will be.

And I do believe that America will return to what it was before this psychopathic misfit came upon the scene.

So to our good friends abroad I end by saying, we will correct the egregious error we made in electing this infantile tyrant, so please keep the faith.

We are there with you.

Renegade Sense

Blog (Material is Shamelessly Lifted from Sources I Consider Reliable and Authoritative)

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