More Understanding


POST 1298


My post last Sunday, Now You Know-V2.0, zeroed in on Trump’s key nefarious, un-constitutional strategy: massive voter suppression of everyone who won’t vote for him and his sycophants. Here’s more, this from Marc Elias of Democracy Docket.

It was only 15 words. And it wasn’t what the legacy media focused on. But in his Friday address, following up on Donald Trump’s deranged speech the night before, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin gave away the game.

Standing behind an official podium, in front of several American flags, Mullin stated menacingly, “REAL ID does not prove citizenship and does not give you the right to vote.”

Mullin was trying to ramp up his threats against states that refuse to turn over their constitutional power to run elections to the federal government. Instead, he admitted what many of us have been saying for months: The SAVE Act would disenfranchise millions, and that is its point.

All this as Trump’s Secretary of Defense or War or Trans fighting or hormone me3ddling – check all that apply – has ordered all servicemen to submit to mandatory testosterone testing and, as needed, testosterone replacement therapy. That goes for women, too. He wants his warriors ready to – what? – rape, pillage and plunder? That’s the kind of thing dictators do to ensure maximum manly cruel masculinity and to over-compensate for their own shortcomings. We can expect similar bouts of crazy from Trump’s other unqualified sycophants.

Quotes Of The Week

There is a new Netflix series rebooting the Laura Ingalls stories. In A ‘Little House’ for Our Era, Writer Glynnis MacNicol references the TV series Little House on the Prairie of the 70s and makes contemporary references as well, like this one:

Defenders [of hateful views about Native Americans held during the 1870s and 80s] will say [author] Laura [Ingalls] was simply echoing the sentiments of the time, which may be true. But from the vantage point of 2026, Laura’s language feels frighteningly contemporary. The Trump administration has embarked on a concerted effort to reframe the official scope of American history from multiracial and multiethnic to one that focuses almost entirely on the achievements of white, Christian Americans. The worst language in “Little House” pales in comparison with what regularly emanates from this White House.

And we tolerate this .  .  .  why?

Try watching this short video by Lucas Bean, where he describes the MAGA crazies who have poisoned our country. There are a lot of these people. Bean’s explanation is not a rant. It is a making sense of the senseless. Watch it and you’ll begin to understand what we are up against.

Ripoff Of The Week

I needed a new set of AirPods and purchased them at an Apple store. When I arrived home I realized that they had failed to include a charging cable, so a few days later I headed back to the store where I was told that they don’t supply a charging cable with Airpods, but that I can purchase one for another $33.00.

Source unknown. Many thanks to SM for passing it along.

Something similar happened a few years ago when I purchased a new computer. I needed a second charging adapter and cable for times when I travel and found that I could not use any of the chargers I already had because Apple had changed the connector. A second charger adapter and cable would cost me something like $80.00. Looks like it’s lucrative business to change things to keep me buying more of their stuff.

And that seems a lot like Trump and his promises. He tells us that the greatest you’ve ever seen of something-or-other is on the way and he teases us with his phantom something-or-other to get us to give more of our money to rich guys like himself, like top loaded tax cuts; no-bid contracts for crap nobody but Trump wants; wars that accomplish little more than increasing our “defense” spending by half a trillion dollars to enrich his already uber-rich defense contractor buddies; to sacrifice our young by cutting food stamps and medical care; and by ceding our freedom and our country to his private Gestapo. But, hey, they mostly murder Browns, so who cares? It’s always “give more for Trump’s wealth and power ” and eliminate the non-Aryans. If people get killed by his thugs, no problem, because they have the official podiums and microphones where they can justify anything and deny video records of whatever actually happens.

Yes, it’s an imperfect metaphor, but either way I don’t like being abused by people manipulating the system for their own benefit and to our detriment. I think I know who our biggest domestic terrorist is and so do you.

Random thought: It’s been a really long time since anyone used the word “integrity” either positively or negatively (as in: absence of) to describe our politics and what is happening to our nation. We’re that far gone. We have a greatly advanced case of cowardice.

Finally

If you’re up to coming face to face with Trump’s Machiavellian grabs for power, for domination and money, watch and listen to Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s (D-MI) presentation to the Brookings Institution.


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