Posts by: Jack Altschuler

Un-American – Extra Urgent!


POST 1146

You know about the tsunami of Trump’s attacks on our government and our Constitution. His is a multi-pronged assault designed to destroy everything we care about, to “tear it all down.”

Vague policy explanations of the reasons to oppose and abhor this danger are insufficient to convey the urgency. This needs to be expressed in “This is how it affects you” terms. Heather Cox Richardson has crafted that for you  in an easy to understand, if painful to read, explanation.

So, this post is essentially hers. Read her essay. Take your time and feel the enormous drive to fascism that is advancing and taking everything away from us. You’ll see that Trump and his billionaire suck-ups are working to make this country into a monster, the likes of which we have fought against in hot wars and in a decades long cold war. This cadre of self-serving oligarchs is creating exactly what your values say are evil and un-American.

Project 2025 is the playbook Trump denied knowing about but he is following it to the letter. You can read a full, Mein Kampf-worthy version here. If instead you want a translation into truthful English of this manifesto for the destruction of our country, the ACLU has that for you.

This war on America is complex and difficult to stop. There are many brave people already fighting it, but there is no assurance that truth, justice and the American way will prevail.

Our standing on the sidelines watching others carry the fight is a losing strategy. Waiting for disaster to befall us before doing our part is nothing less than conceding defeat in advance.

Go read Richardson’s piece right now. Then get in the fight.

REBEL!

  • _______________________________
  • We’ll need a great leader for this. Coming Wednesday: Who Will Lead?

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

This Is Not Normal


POST 1145

It’s no surprise that Trump is making moves to erase the entire Biden presidency. It’s not just Biden’s legacy he’s after. He’s trying to erase Biden from future history books. The reason his infantile tantrum is no surprise is because that’s what he attempted to do to the Obama presidency during the first time Trump attempted führer-ship. How insecure does one have to be to need to erase everyone else?

But there’s more to it.

Take a look at the Trump lineup of demolition as described by Heather Cox Richardson on January 24. It is his standard everything, everywhere all at once sowing of chaos and suffering.

The Guardian reported today that incoming Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered a halt to almost all foreign aid, with the exception of military assistance to Israel and Egypt. The Guardian notes that this order is likely unlawful, since Congress sets the budget and in 1974 declared it illegal for the president to impound funds. Still, a source foresaw the end of the global influence the U.S. has had since World War II, telling The Guardian: “Freezing these international investments will lead our international partners to seek other funding partners—likely US competitors and adversaries—to fill this hole and displace the United States’ influence the longer this unlawful impoundment continues.”

As Peter Baker of the New York Times notes, new president Donald Trump is trying to break NATO by demanding that members increase military spending to 5% of their nations’ economies, although the U.S. currently spends about 3% of its GDP on defense. If we were to meet that requirement, Baker points out, the U.S. would have to increase its defense budget by $567 billion a year. Isabel van Brugen of Newsweek reports that an Italian news agency says that Trump intends to pull about 20,000 U.S. troops from Europe and wants Europe to pay to maintain the rest.

Trump has undertaken to dismantle the postwar democratic government at home, too. He has stopped the funding for repairing roads, bridges, airports, and ports that passed Congress in a bipartisan vote in 2022, as well as taken away funding for new solar manufacturing plants and other new systems to address climate change.

He has frozen all travel and communications at the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. “We’ve never seen anything like this,” one researcher told Dan Diamond, Lena H. Sun, Carolyn Y. Johnson, and Mark Johnson of the Washington Post. “This is like a meteor just crashed into all of our cancer centers and research areas.”

And, of course, Trump has declared a war on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. In his revoking of LBJ’s Executive Order 11246, itself based on FDR’s Executive Order 8802, he explicitly rejected the principles for which the Americans fought in World War II.

Mara Gay was on Nicolle Wallace’s program Deadline: White House in the afternoon following Trump’s inaugural address. Her comments were so striking that I transcribed them and offer them to you in this PDF – because our current reality is so very not normal. We’ve had extremists and hate mongers and un-American traitors before, but as for all things Trump, now there is no bottom.

There is far more like that to report, but for now, a useful question is, “How are Trump voters going to feel when the consequences of all these things hit them, like”

When workers fail to show up to build that new I-75 bridge over the Ohio River because Trump cut the project and eliminated their jobs, or when the roads and bridges in your town crumble and nobody shows up to fix them;

When investment in those chips plants dries up, manufacturing jobs stop coming home and we are at the mercy of the Chinese who have no mercy for us;

When FEMA funds aren’t available for victims of catastrophes that happen;

When nobody prepares for the next pandemic and it wipes out our grannies and our little kids;

When funds for research for Parkinson’s, cancer, heart disease, obesity and Alzheimers have been cut off (they already have been) and you and your loved one are left hopeless;

When NATO has been made a eunuch and Putin overruns Ukraine and then sends troops into Poland and the Baltic States;

When Xi invades and swallows Taiwan;

When your daughter doesn’t get treatment for her rare disease;

When global warming increases unchecked because we defunded renewable energy projects and encouraged “drill, baby, drill” and now the super hurricane is on the way with no presidential Sharpie to redirect it;

When Proud Boys, 3 Percenters, Oath Keepers and other hoodlum vigilantes are attacking state capitols, our election volunteers, our cops and even you because you asked a tough question at a town hall and nobody is coming to help because our law enforcement agencies have been gutted.

When Trump’s economically counterproductive tariffs and his stupid head abandonment of the fight against public health threats like bird flu are fully developed, I’m pretty sure that the price of eggs will be the least of your worries.

There are already signs of major disapproval of Trump for what he’s doing, including his sycophant, dishonest reprehensible, loyal-only-to-Trump (and who cares about the law?) cabinet picks. A key Trump horrible last week was his politicized idiocy of falsely assigning blame for the midair tragedy to DEI and making attacks on imaginary Democratic policies. His evidence for his claims is “common sense,” but of course there is nothing common or sensical to Trump’s statements. Let’s hope he continues to be this offensive to everyone and he loses yet more public approval.

Most of our last 100 years have been a bulwark of democracy against fascism. We fought wars and sacrificed our young to stop that cruelty, but oligarchs and fascist believers starting with Reagan have been chipping away at our democracy for decades. Now Trump is demolishing it in giant explosions, aided and abetted by cowardly, hypocritical Republicans in Congress.

Here’s the high, hard one:

You did this, Trump voter. You and the 6 million who voted for Biden but stayed home on election day 2024. I’m hoping that there is still time for you to wake up, to join the rest of us and

  • REBEL!

Breaking News!

.
  • Last week Jim Acosta left CNN. It was a shameful moment when the network pushed him out but it was another statement of courage and integrity for Acosta. Recall that he is the White House correspondent who withstood Trump’s false, demeaning and cowardly attacks for four years and did it with dignity and decency. Kudos to Jim Acosta.
  • Watch his announcement on Substack here.
  • His final message to us for now is a descriptor of how he works and is a timely and powerful mantra for all of us right now:
Don’t give in to the lies.
.
Don’t give in to fear.
.
Hold on to the truth
.
Hold on to hope.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

How It Works – v2


POST 1144

Preface

This is an update of a piece originally posted February 7, 2021, one month after the treasonous insurrection.

In yet another attack on the rule of law, President Trump has now pardoned or commuted the sentences of 1,500 of the January 6 criminals, including the cop killers.* The Republicans in the majority of both Houses of Congress have shown themselves to be cowardly and spineless in the face of Trump’s assault on the Constitution. They are essentially dissolving Congress voluntarily.

_________________________________________

“Fear will keep the local systems in line.”

In the first Star Wars movie there is a scene with Darth Vader and the officers of the Imperial star ship.

.

That’s pretty much how Hitler did it. He didn’t actually make the Reichstag go away. He just neutered it into becoming a lap dog by means of The Enabling Act of 1933, which the council members passed due to fear for their lives. Then things became way worse, as they always do in dictatorships. Required reading: Steve Schmidt’s There Is a Thin Line Between Life and Death.

It’s pretty much the same in Putin’s Russia, Erdoğan’s Turkey, Xi’s China, Duterte’s Phillippines and now in the U.S. Eliminating legislative oversight is what authoritarians do to hoard all power for themselves. Most often it’s done with thug tactics. Just ask Putin opponent Alexei Navalny about his experience with Putin’s gulags and nerve poison. Oh, wait: you can’t ask Navalny because Putin murdered him.

The January 6 mob was a violent insurrection dispatched by Trump, a riot of Jesus-bannered, cross carrying thugs, including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, 3 Percenters, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other unhinged hoodlums. They were there to overthrow our government – to effectively eliminate Congress – so that Trump could take over the country (see the movie clip again if you need a refresher). And to kill cops.

Does that sound so extreme as to be preposterous? If so, you need to pay closer attention, because that’s exactly what those thugs said they were there to do, all at Trump’s bidding. They were there to murder any House or Senate members they found (cue the clips of senators running for their lives). They brought a noose to lynch Mike Pence. Those aren’t things people do in order to preserve their government.

Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick

Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died from cop killer mob violence while defending 535 members of Congress and the symbol of America that is the Capitol Building. He was killed by Bible-thumping, flag waving American terrorists, who most certainly weren’t promoting law and order, honoring our cops or doing what Jesus would do.

Honoring Officer Brian Sicknick

Both before and since the insurrection, non-Republican members of Congress and election volunteers have received death threats* to themselves and to their family members.

For any remaining fascism skeptics:

If not to overthrow the will of the people and our democracy, what do you think that election fraud Big Lie was about?

Surely, you don’t think those rioters were play acting when they attempted to kill those in Congress.

Surely, you don’t think they believed in democracy when they attempted to trash the votes of tens 81 million Americans.

Surely, you don’t think the currently seated members of Congress who attempted to stop the Electoral College vote counting and whose knees buckle upon hearing of Trump’s every whim actually believe in and honor their oath of office.

Surely, you don’t think the pardoned traitors don’t mean it when they vomit their vitriol of retribution.

Click me – but read Note #5 below first

This is how democracies die. A cult leader exhorts fanatics, the thugs terrorize all opposition and incrementally people surrender to death threats and violence. And that’s advanced when hundreds of our legislators give a standing ovation to the hateful nut cases spewing fascist hatred. That’s advanced when Trump puts forth a slate of entirely unqualified suck ups to be heads of cabinets and it’s advanced when spineless Republicans put those Trump sycophants in power. Yes, fascism can happen here in America. It’s happening right before your eyes.

I’ve exhorted readers to learn what FDR’s Vice President Wallace had to say about fascism in America. If you believe in democracy and have not yet read his essay, please read it now.

Now that Trump has pardoned these violent criminals – cop killers – you can expect acts of terrorism, including sniper and mass shootings, bombings (think: Timothy McVeigh and the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City) and perhaps political assassinations over the coming years. These are highly armed, angry, hateful, bigoted, self-righteous thugs who expect to continue their self-righteous war against America. That’s exactly what they’ve promised. And Trump loves and protects them.

I’m all for our learning to talk with one another constructively, to make peace, perhaps to have a truth and reconciliation commission. But that can only happen after violence is no longer a threat and democracy is secure. Reference: South Africa.

Now it’s time for all of us to stand and be counted in support of the FBI, our state justice departments and law enforcement agencies to stop the barbarians. It’s imperative that we eliminate the clear and present danger that these home grown killers and desecrators are.

The cop killer terrorists have already breached the gates of democracy and are buoyed in their treasonous actions by Trump and because they see January 6 as a victory for themselves. If we are to continue our bold experiment in self-rule, we better get some victories notched against the barbarians damned fast.

Oh, and Trump fired 18 inspectors general in violation of the law requiring 30 days advance notice,

  1. Trump don’ wan’ no stinking people who can hold him accountable, so he’s getting rid of the watch dogs. He’s lived a lifetime of doing whatever allowed him to skate from responsibility for his actions, including packing the Supreme Court with his extremist picks to give him a license to lie, cheat, steal and kill from the Oval Office.
  2. The real deal, the giggly, bubbly part for Trump, is that this, along with the pardons, is a stake in the ground saying that he doesn’t have to obey our laws. He’s making it clear that he is above the law and is daring anyone to stand up to him. The question is whether Congress will let him get away with that, just as the Reichstag let Hitler get away with everything. You are advised to have low expectations of our Republicans.
This Just In: Fired for Cause

Jeff Bezos’ termination of faithfulness to the Washington Post’s masthead slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” has led to spineless reporting, suck up editorials and shameful toadying. It is worse than just embarrassing. It is the dying of a light that protects and defends our democracy, all for a few coins in Bezos’ pocket and a pat on his slick scalp by the Führer-in Chief.

I just cancelled my subscription.

Let me know when that coward is gone and there is new leadership at the paper worthy of the legacy of Kathryn Graham and Ben Bradlee.

__________________________________

* Refer to Thom Hartmann’s post, If Obama Had Sent a Mob to Kill a Cop, Republicans Would Never Let You Forget It – The GOP would be screaming “Cop Killer” every single day — so why aren’t Democrats holding Trump to the same standard?

Coming Sunday: This Is Not Normal

Ed. note: We need to spread the word so that we make a critical difference, so,

  1. Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.
  2. Engage in the Comments section below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, educate me and all of us. That’s what the Comments section is for.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

You Can See It Coming


POST 1143

What’s Really Happening

Billionaires and wild-eyed, angry people frothing at the mouth over the power they’ll have over others (like you) are trying to make their domination seem normal, selling it to you as the way things should be. They want to dump their cruelty, their wickedness and their hatred on you and me. These people are capable of the greatest evil and they will rain it down on you if you let them.

You must fight for what you believe in. Fight to declare that Nazi salutes* are un-American and unacceptable. Fight to declare that you won’t stand for totalitarian wickedness.

Let’s try it this way.

In the 1960s the times really were changing and the message was from we younger people to the Establishment, those who wanted to send us off to fight and die. Bob Dylan wrote a song, telling the older generation that we weren’t willing to be their canon fodder, not willing to be compliant and do as we were told, that they better see that things had changed.

    The Times They Are A-Changin’
.
Come gather ’round peopleWherever you roamAnd admit that the watersAround you have grownAnd accept it that soonYou’ll be drenched to the boneIf your time to you is worth savin’And you better start swimmin’Or you’ll sink like a stoneFor the times they are a-changin’
.
That was a message then to the Establishment from the younger generation – us. Now that message stares back at us and dares us to realize that the times have changed to once again endanger all of us. They challenge us with authoritarian, oligarch, dictatorial doom unless we see the peril all around us and take action. They warn us to start swimming or we’ll sink like a stone.
.

Because the Trump Establishment and millions of our fellow Americans are steeped in grievance, repression, bigotry and hatred. In the face of that, far too many of us are passive, apathetic and willing to be drenched to the bone.

Wake up!
.
Because the waters around us have grown – surely you feel it.
.

There is nobody coming to save us. This is a threat to you and me and it us we who must stand against it, to take action for ourselves and for our country right now!.

Doubt that? Check in with any of the DC cops or Capitol Police officers who got beaten to hell on January 6 and whose attackers are now back on the street vowing revenge and screeching they’ll finish what they started.

When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.
  •  – attribution unknown
Hitler’s Playbook – Required Reading

From January 8 in The Atlantic, How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days – He used the constitution to shatter the constitution. Trump is doing the same things now, ripping down all that protects us. Hitler did it in less than 2 months and Trump and his sickies are on pace for that.

From Harry Litman, Hitler Pardoned His Goons, Too. Right out of Hitler’s playbook. He’s filling out the ranks of his cruel private army with criminals and the violently insane, just as Hitler did.

From Steve Schmidt, The Big Lie. Hateful lies, propaganda to bend our minds is being fed to you every day. It’s right out of Hitler’s playbook.

From Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution, This is how fascism comes to America. And it is coming, just as it came to once democratic Germany.

From Sheila Markin, They Assaulted Police. Trump Freed Them. Specifically, read the section about the pardons, Why Trump Did It. She outlines 6 reasons, each one chilling and right out of Hitler’s playbook.

  • It’s Right In Front Of Your Eyes

The would-be fascists can wave the red, white and blue, Trump can hump a flag and they can tell you about all the non-White, non-Christian people responsible for your problems. They can call themselves Christians, as they parade their hatreds and cruelties, but for them it’s not and never was about anything Jesus preached. Rather, they’re all about fascism, all about dominating you and all of us. It’s about them taking everything and leaving you nothing. It’s about total domination – of you.

  • It is the swift dismantling of American values by invoking American values..
  • They are incrementally stealing the dream your ancestors had when they came here, as well as the dream our Founders had when they launched this glorious experiment in self-rule. This looming fascism is exactly what the Founders rebelled against from the British crown.
  • The fascists here today are preparing to take from you your freedom, your rights, your protections and your country and it’s happening at terrible speed. It is happening whether you see it yet or you’re going along as though nothing will touch you. But those blinders by your eyes will fail when the tsunami of despotism comes to crush you and all you hold dear.

  • Thomas Paine

    Unless you fight.

  • “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

  • REBEL!

  • .
  • ._________________________

  • * Some are saying Musk’s Nazi salutes weren’t Nazi salutes. That’s like Trump saying that the January 6 insurrection, the assaults, the murders and the vandalism, was a patriotic love fest. Denying reality and falsely calling violent attacks something benign is right out of the Hitler playbook.

  • BTW – those were Nazi “Seig Heil!” salutes from the racist, apartheid loving Elon Musk.

    From The Onion, of course

  • Coming Wednesday: This Is Not Normal

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

The Tarnished Age


POST 1142

Only I

In Mr. Trump’s first inaugural speech he spoke about American dystopia, carnage without limits, evil violence and our collective hopelessness (“This is some crazy shit,” said George W. Bush). There was only one way to save our republic, he told us, only one savior to lead us from the dumpster slime that was America. “Only I,” claimed Donald Trump, could deliver us from this degradation. “Only I” could correct the awful violations of the true spirit of our country that had been dumped upon us by Democrats. “Only I.”

Then “Only I” brought us a vastly expanded pandemic that at last killed over 1,150,000 Americans. Because of his ineptitude, his recommending cures that were not cures, some of them toxic, and because he made no effort to get vaccinations into the arms of Americans once vaccines were available, the CDC calculated that 750,000 of those deaths had been preventable, but for the bumbling of “Only I.”

And those Covid distancing protocols and the shut downs and the quarantines that MAGAs still rail at, “Only I” did that, too, not Joe Biden. Biden opened the country back up.

“Only I” also brought us over 6% inflation and the loss of millions of jobs. Nobody else could have done that. “Only I.”

He brought us a weakened NATO and allowed Russia to invade Ukraine. No Democrat would have attacked the organization that had kept the peace for over 80 years, but “Only I” managed it easily.

And who else could have proclaimed endlessly that Infrastructure Week was coming, but it never arrived. “Only I” bragged that he would repeal and replace Obamacare with some vastly better health care at a cheaper price. Now, of course, “Only I” tells us that he only has a “concept of a plan” that will be both better and cheaper – no specifics. Nothing but puffery.

“Only I” says he is gong to create an American Gestapo (my term, not his) to pound down the doors of people suspected of being in this country illegally and even some who are naturalized American citizens. He’ll have his cruelty cops round these people up into concentration camps and then deport them – somewhere – nobody knows where. That’s some number of people who will make up between 11 and 20 million deportations at a cost estimated to become north of a billion dollars. It will probably cost far more, as other countries refuse Trump’s rejects onto their shores.

“Only I” is also going to end birthright citizenship. You know: that pesky thing in the 14 Amendment to the Constitution.* He’s going to make that go away like he claimed he did to a hurricane, with the flair of a Sharpie, so that he can expel brown people, black people, Muslims and Asians who were born in this country but aren’t tech geniuses. He thinks an executive order he signs can eliminate an Amendment to our Constitution. There are already multiple lawsuits filed to disabuse him of his idiocy.

With each passing day and each hateful, anti-democracy uttering, the Trump menagerie of cult followers is making this look more and more like 1930s Germany.

Get over your rejection of comparisons of Trump to things Nazi. You aren’t required to self-blind or to go deaf. Face the obvious: we are in an advanced state of voluntarily abandoning our democracy and embracing fascism. We are turning over the wealth and power of our nation, giving what is ours to the billionaires, whom Trump has already begun to reward for their loyalty to “Only I” alone.

Even First Asshole Elon Musk gets it. Here’s his salute to Trump on inauguration day.

Click the pic for a Seig Heil! to warm the otherwise cold, dead hearts of today’s Sturmabteilung (Storm Troopers, aka Brown Shirts) and our right wing thug extremists.

That salute made front pages all around the world, as people reacted to the Nazi salute to der Trump-Führer. Decide for yourself who the angry f-word on Musk’s lips is for. Note that his Nazi salute was well received in the Capital One Arena on Monday. It is standard at MAGA militia rallies and was popular at the January 6 insurrection. Bear in mind that these are all red-blooded Americans doing the Nazi salute. Don’t tell your Greatest Generation relatives, neighbors and friends about this.

Elon is saluting evil. So are the MAGAs. That’s what We The People voted for. Are you okay with that?

You must decide for yourself how many small, sort-of tolerable changes you can tolerate, because they accumulate and become massive, fetid, stinking rot, emitting a foul miasma and poisoning our bodies. We’ve seen this movie over and over, so it isn’t as though this is some new learning. What’s needed is for us to see what is right before our eyes.

And take action.

Like demanding that your senators reject Trump’s “Creature Cantina” (Steve Schmidt’s term) of proposed department heads. Go ahead – pick up the phone and make the calls.

_______________________________________________

* XIV Amendment, Section 1:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state where in they reside.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Stand a Post – 2


POST 1141

Preface to This Guest Essay – It Could Be Entitled, “Stand a Post-2.”

On December 22 I published Our Problem, a flaming declaration of the obvious and dangerous truth, that most Democrats have shown themselves to be toothless tigers and are completely unready to battle the horrors that face us. Lifelong pal Frank Levy had something to say about that and he posted an insightful comment. You need to see it, so it’s here as a Guest Essay.

Frank has been an activist forever. He was a Freedom Rider in the 1960s when registering Black people to vote in the deep south was a death defying act. He does more than give lip service to doing what is right and good. He tells us that it’s time to get up off our butts and take action. He tells us that we cannot count on Democratic elected officials to fight this war to preserve our rights, the Constitution and our democracy. He’s right.

For context, review my post first and then come back to read Frank’s wise words.

Jack – You are right. The Dems are MIA. They are not going to save us. They are not even going to lead us. So, what? They have been MIA for a long, long time. The only thing that will save us and our on-life-support democracy is what has always saved us – WE THE PEOPLE!

With no disrespect, my longtime friend, you are suffering from a serious case of useless pundit syndrome. We all know what the problem is. We know it all too well. There is no shortage of media pundits (all of whom incorrectly predicted the election), scholars, and the like explaining ad nauseam what went and is wrong. There is no shortage of useless verbiage telling us how bad things will be. We know all of that.

What we need are people willing to offer some solutions, a defensive or even offensive strategy or tactical plan so We The People can survive the coming catastrophe and maybe even restore liberal democracy to America sometime in the future.

So with no lack of arrogance I am offering my own save yourself and democracy to-do list:

  1. Never miss an opportunity to inform elected officials – Republican and Democrat, local and national – about your position on every issue. Write them, Call them. Make them hear you!
  2. Get together with like minded people to form a local resilience and resistance force. Meet regularly. Make plans to do meaningful acts of resistance. There really is strength in numbers. This is our John Lewis moment!
  3. Make a plan to protect your job, your savings, your retirement funds, your healthcare plan, your health, your home.
  4. If you live in a red state, make plans to create an underground railroad, to help women needing an abortion or healthcare get what they need.
  5. Create or work with a local food bank so when food prices skyrocket and there are food shortages people in need can get affordable food.
  6. Raise your own livestock (cattle, pigs, chickens, turkeys) or find a farmer to raise it for you – there will be food shortages. Be prepared.
  7. Again, if your live in a red state create an underground railroad to help LGBTQIA+ individuals get to states where it is safe to live, be married, and get gender affirming health care.
  8. Find new, reliable, courageous news sources. The media for the most part has surrendered to MAGA and Trump’s threats.
  9. Stop trying to make nice with MAGA people. They do not share your values. They will not agree to the same set of facts. Without agreement of those two things there is nothing to talk about.
  10. Buy a copy of Timothy Snyder’s book, “On Tyranny – Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.” Read it. It is your new Bible. Do not leave home without it.
  11. If you think you will need to leave this country to go somewhere safe – get or renew your passport now.
  12. Decide whether or not you have the means and are willing to provide sanctuary for those immigrants Trump and his evil henchmen want to deport or incarcerate.
  13. Join a group like Indivisible. They have great information and resources to help us in this fight. (www.Indivisible.org)
  14. Contact me one on one. I will be happy to share what I know, and what my friends and I in Alabama are doing. ([email protected])

I am sure there are other things we can and should be doing in this terrifying time, but this is a start. This is what my friends and I are doing now.

_____________________________________________________

Okay, maybe you won’t be raising your own livestock. At the very least you need to see Frank’s comment as making the point that your circumstances are likely to become extremely bad. With what you see and hear every day you shouldn’t require clarification of this.

  1. You see the billionaire tech-toadies buying their way into power and the monied supplicant suck-ups (oh, wait: that’s redundant) bending a knee instead of standing in integrity.
  2. You see the cabinet appointments chosen not for their qualifications or their excellence, but for their loyalty to Trump so that they protect our Felon-in Chief.
  3. You see the guardrails coming down, so you know our democracy is in trouble.

Frank mentioned Indivisible.org. There are other ways to stand that post, including The Union, MoveOn.org, Country First, Focus4Democracy, The States Project, Indivisible Illinois and more. Go stand a post with at least one of those organizations working to protect our democracy.

We are in for a long, achingly hard battle, so put your ideas for action in the Comments section below to help us all.

REBEL!

.  .  .  against the billionaire tyranny.

From The Union

Tomorrow is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day. You know the stories of how right wing haters tried to stop the creation of a day of remembrance for this (gasp!) Black man, this non-violent icon of peaceful change for the betterment of all. Tomorrow is also the inauguration of a man dedicated to hatred, selfishness and repression. The contrast would be comical if it weren’t so damaging.

The folks at The Union have some ideas about how you can help peaceful change come about.

Register Voters: Help your community by assisting people in registering to vote or becoming election workers. (If you’re interested in learning how to get involved with voter registration in your area, please reach out to The Union for more information.)

Volunteer at a local food bank: Help provide meals for people in need.

Community Cleanups: Lead efforts to clean up parks, streets, or public spaces, promoting community pride and solidarity.

Reach out to a friend or relative to see how they’re doing and encourage them to get involved in local volunteer opportunities or pro-democracy initiatives.

Sign up for a volunteer event at our Action Center! Key races are happening this year in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Virginia. Get involved and mark your calendar today!

As The Union wrote in its recent post,

“Thank you for your dedication to justice, community, and democracy.”

TikTok

You would compromise our national security so that you can post and view inane videos for free? Really? Or so that you can make a few bucks on that platform, as though that’s the only place you can make a buck? Seriously?!

Seriously!?!!
.

We can be bought – we sell out – so cheaply. But you don’t have to do that. Reach down and grab your ass. That is what’s at stake.

Fun – Yes, Really

Click me

Did you make it this far in this long post? Good for you, because here’s a gift courtesy of Dan Rather at Steady. Fleetwood Mack tells us “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.” It’s a message of hope – “It’ll be here better than before” – and we surely need hope right now, because tomorrow – as in: Monday – won’t be better than today. But we are going to make our tomorrows better than before – if we work at it. Let’s go.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Stand a Post – 1


POST 1140

President Biden’s Farewell

“Oligarchs.”

President Biden said, “Oligarchs.”

Biden has spent 50 years protecting and defending this bold experiment, this idea of the rule of law, of rule by the people. Now he calls to us with a warning about what is so plain to see, that our country is well down the path to abandoning our democracy and turning it over to a group of ultra-wealthy oligarch wannabees and to a power hungry cruel despot wannabe.

At the edge of his last days in public office, Biden appealed to us, saying,

“I still believe in the idea for which this nation stands, a nation where the strength of our institutions and the character of our people matter and must endure. Now it’s your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keeper of the flame. May you keep the faith. I love America. You love it, too.”
.

Watch his address. Listen to his warning. The dreadful dangers are real. They are an existential threat to our country and they have the potential of being an existential threat to each and every one of us. As he said, “Now it’s your turn to stand guard.”

So, I offer to you this metaphor from the barricades, absent any hyperbole:

It’s time for you and I and all of us to
grab a rhetorical activist weapon and stand a post.
.

Thank you for stepping up to serve.

REBEL!

.  .  .  against the billionaire tyranny.

Imagine

Biden’s accomplishments for the American people are largely ignored now and his favorability ratings are quite poor. But imagine how things will look to our children and grandchildren 30 years from now.

Roy is a carpenter building houses for the last of our homeless. He’s done well by doing good, so he grabs a beer in the kitchen and drops into a chair. He doesn’t know why, but he begins to think in a way he had not before, largely because he had been quite busy doing the basic blocking and tackling of everyday life. But on this day, for reasons he cannot explain, he gets to thinking about what has happened. He turns to his wife.

“You know, this really has been great most of the time. I have a good job that pays a good wage. We live well, much better, in fact, than our parents did. And this all started because of the programs Joe Biden put in place all those years ago, including his support of unions.

“We got internet service way out here because of Biden’s program. We have good healthcare and our country is safe, in part because we’re making those little chips here instead of buying them from China. That bridge over the river finally got rebuilt and we can afford to send both of our kids to college without leaving them with a pile of debt. Plus your mom’s still alive because she didn’t get Covid. That’s because Biden put together the system that delivered a vaccine to her arm and that protected her.

“I didn’t think much of Biden when he was president, so I’m surprised to say that now he’s looking like he was a really good one.”

That self-reflection only happens if we stop the people who want to bring down our country, this while sitting on their piles of money that they took from us.

So, I offer to you this metaphor from the barricades, absent any hyperbole:

It’s time for you and I and all of us to
grab a rhetorical, activist weapon and stand a post.
.

Thank you for stepping up to serve.

REBEL!

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

We In A Heap O’ Trouble


POST 1139

Fires and Little Minds

We can be calmed and grateful that two Kardashian sisters have at last spoken, bringing their public safety expertise to the Los Angeles fires disaster. We’ll ignore their useless finger pointing and that of most everyone else and instead focus on people’s need to blame.

Trump is blaming because he sees political advantage in attacking Gov. Gavin Newsome. He’s also blaming because he loves to and needs to demonize and hate what he cannot – as in: not able to – understand. Plus, he hasn’t even a single constructive idea about even the most obvious challenges to our nation. That is what ignorance can do for the enthusiastically clueless. Nevertheless, blaming is taking center stage. It is dribbling from Trump and coming from other points of ignorance.*

If you want to blame someone for the fires, blame the millions of Americans who bought into the California dream and demanded to live in that area. That produced housing that was far too dense, with too many houses on every block, jammed together, making it easy for flames to jump from house to house and far too difficult for fire fighters to stop the progression of a fire.

Or blame all the municipalities for failing to realize that there is an entire ocean immediately next to them, but they have never installed pumps and pipes to supply ocean water into the fire hydrant piping system.

Or blame the tax payers for their blissful ignorance, demanding excellent services but refusing to pay for them, so they don’t have them. Turns out there is no free lunch. You don’t pay, you don’t get.

Or blame the politicians we elect who prostrate themselves before the money of Big Fossil Fuels and who then repeat the mantra that there is no global warming or, if there is, that burning hydrocarbons has nothing to do with it. Who could forget that 97% of world climate scientists told us decades ago and ever since then that the Earth is warming and that human burning of hydrocarbons was accelerating the danger? Worse, who could forget the politicians denying that and siding with the miserable 3% of scientists who conducted “research” that was funded by fossil fuel companies?

Or blame us for electing those cowardly politicians.

The Best Blaming Award, though, goes to Trump for his fantasy, gibberish criticism.

From NBC News, Trump blames Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom for deadly wildfires:

“’Governor Gavin Newscum [sic – kudos to Trump for extending his infantile, bratty string of name calling] refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,’ Trump wrote in one of several posts on his social media platform, Truth Social.
.

“Newsom’s Director of Communications, Izzy Gardon, accused the president-elect of ‘playing politics’ while the wildfires continued to wreak havoc in southern California.

“‘There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction. The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,’ Gardon said.”

Someone please explain to the rest of us how a felonious president-elect ignorantly pointing his finger helps the victims of these fires.

To be even-handed, talent-less, pretty Kardashian women who spend their days primping are leveling blame with all the authority of ignorant playground brats. Somebody please explain to the rest of us how that helps the victims of these fires or makes things better in any way.

I don’t know if it is universal in human nature, but it certainly is universal in American culture to shift at light speed from terrible events to blaming. What is that, a fear response? A self-protective avoidance of accountability? A venting of anger? Something else? One thing it is not is helpful to making things better.

Something Has Been Lost

From Thom Hartman, Why Do Republicans Hate a Prosperous Middle Class? (hint: it’s about greed):

At the end of the day, all Republican politicians care about is money. Greed is their principle animating force, and what binds them to their morbidly rich donors. [emphasis original]

I encourage you to read Hartmann’s post. It is shockingly accurate.

From Steve Schmidt, America: where kings were once toppled:

Elon Musk has embraced his white South African pedigree with a zeal that would have made even the most vicious Afrikaner beating in a black skull with a club smile in delight. Whether cheer leading for the British racist Tommy Robinson or the German AFD, which holds that the SS was not a criminal organization, Elon Musk is dropping the curtain. Following the connective thread is not difficult— or rather should not be — but for much of America’s media it is a bridge too far. For them, it is better to pretend that it isn’t happening. The news these days is often what can be seen and heard, but is not allowed to be spoken. That’s too bad because the danger is coming closer.

Our press – now referred to as the mainstream media, or worse – used to be called the Fourth Estate, a bulwark against tyranny and official wrongdoing. These folks held up a light so that all of us could see what is really going on and then hold perps accountable. A great many outlets have gone out of business – it’s expensive to field investigative reporters – and many more seem to have lost their spines. That’s an invitation to the destruction of all that is good about this nation. In Steve Schmidt’s words, the danger is coming closer. It’s a good time to subscribe to your local newspaper while you still have one.

The Worst News and the Best News

Click me – refer to Note #5 below.

From Marc Elias’ post on Democracy Docket, January 14:

    • It was predictable that the legacy media would fail to stand up to Trump and his barrage of lies.

    • It was predictable that the corporate leaders would jettison any principle to suck up to Trump.

A large number of publications that used to have the courage to speak truth to power have caved in to Trump. The Washington Post is owned by Amazon gazillionaire Jeff Bezos. He refused to publish the newspaper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris just before the election. So did the owner of the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Pat Soon-Shiong. Now each of them has pledged to give Trump $1 million for his inaugural events. Surely that’s coincidence.

You. might recall what happened after January 20, 2017, when millions of dollars donated for Trump’s inaugural could not be accounted for. Recall that he is the same perp who had a charity whose main beneficiary was Donald Trump.

More and more companies are doing what Prof. Timothy Snyder in On Tyranny,** calls “obeying in advance.” It’s a capitulation driven by greed and spinelessness and it threatens our republic.

That is the worst news.

The best news is that some people are doing something about that.

Jennifer Rubin resigned from the Post and she and Norm Eisen have started an online news and opinion publication they call The Contrarian. I just subscribed and recommend that you do, too. Click through and have a look.

If we are to keep this republic and fend off the haters, the fascists, the oligarchs, the White supremacists and the rest who want to burn our Constitution, destroy our democracy and subjugate all of us, we need smart, brave people to speak truth to power, to call out the lies and the liars and to rally us in defense and protection of our Constitution and all that we hold dear.

Your part is to support the people doing that. Subscribe. Do it for your children, your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren. Do it for your crazy Uncle Bob and for your totally lawn obsessive neighbor. Do it for your librarian and the teachers in your schools, for the bewildered kids who need mental healthcare and for our millions of hard working, law abiding immigrants who make your life easier and less expensive. Do it because just a picture of the Statue of Liberty gives you chills.

Do it because you still believe.

___________________________________________

* Following the release of the Special Counsel’s report, Trump called Jack Smith, “a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election [sic].” He was right about the last part and stupid about the first, but he did get in a typical schoolyard brat derogatory.

** Also available in a graphic format for those who miss their comic books.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Perception Deception


POST 1138

Update From the Institute for the Destruction of Intelligence, Opportunity, Trust and Self-rule (“IDIOTS”)

Trump wants you to perceive the wonderful wonderfulness of his you’ve-never-seen-anything-like-this-before, the-best-in-the-world, never-done-before, only-I promises, so, he’s declared all sorts of bone headed things that will begin on “day-one.”

On day-one, says Trump, he’ll begin an absurd number of over-the-top actions, including Gestapo style raids to snatch and grab 11 million people (or is it 20 million?) who look like they might not be in this country legally. The “looks like” part means they look Hispanic or just non-European to ignorant, untrained officials – like Trump. Inflation will soar and eggs and lettuce will become really expensive. Pay no attention to the illegal profiling and wanton cruelty.

From Eugene Robinson:

It is undeniably true that the southern border is a mess and the whole U.S. immigration system is dysfunctional. This has been the case for decades, under Democratic and Republican presidents. The solution has also been obvious for decades: We need comprehensive reform that secures the border; provides viable pathways for legal immigration; offers asylum to those seen as legitimately fleeing oppression or life-threatening violence; provides legal status to the “dreamers,” who were brought here as children and know no other country; and acknowledges the reality that uprooting and expelling an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants, almost all of them leading productive lives, would be an unrealistic exercise in national self-harm.

Also on day-one he will not only re-authorize the “make rich guys and corporations richer” tax fraud, he will almost certainly propose additional tax breaks for unthinkably rich guys. He will authorize the destruction of regulations that cost corporations a few bucks but which protect We The People. Perhaps the Cuyahoga River will once again ignite and Los Angeles air will once again become unbreathe-able, even after the fires are gone. Deregulation will be the ultimate iteration of Reagan’s supply side fraud that blatantly impoverished We The People.

Another day-one proclamation will be signed ostentatiously, like all the rest, in extra bold Sharpie. This one will be to cancel all Biden policies in a first step to erase Biden from U.S. history, just as Trump tried to do in his first term to Obama’s legacy. “Only I” must have all the spotlight all the time, no matter the cost to our nation. Chips and Science Act? Inflation Reduction Act? Infrastructure Act? They don’t have Trump’s name on them, so Trump will carve Biden’s successes into flush-able chunks that won’t make it into history books. All history will start with Trump.

Of course, his Inflation Maximization policy that includes brain-free tariffs will be triggered by bold Sharpie on day-one, too.  Not only will eggs and lettuce become really expensive, so will parts for your car, TVs, clothing – pretty much everything. When it hits, think about this as the inflation people hated before the election, now becoming far worse because they voted for it.

Whether his healthcare moron is JFK, Jr. or some other brain-free suck up, Trump will encourage an assault against medicines and medical practices that protect We The People. Make Preventable Death Great Again!

From David Corn of Mother Jones, Democrats, Don’t Waste This Opportunity, November 22, 2024:


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

What We Wish Judge Juan Merchan Had Said


POST 1137

Preface:

The following is solely wishful thinking. Much to our disappointment, Judge Merchan did not say these words. On the other hand, Trump will, in fact, spend the rest of his life with the word “felon” attached to him and to his name everywhere, including in U.S. history books and in all of his presidential records.

  • _____________________________________________
  • January 10, 2025
  • Courtroom: Part 59
  • State of New York Criminal Courts Building
  • New York, New York
  • Judge Juan Merchan presiding
  • ======================================

Judge Merchan:

“The defendant will rise.

“Mr. Trump, you have received all the benefits of the presumption of innocence, the due process of law and the other protections provided by the Constitution of the United States. You have abused them and the legal system in multiple ways.

“You sought and gained delays of every sort, many frivolous, including abuse of the court system itself.

“You have been verbally abusive and threatening to this court, including to the jurors, and then, when cautioned about your conduct, you continued your verbal abuse.

“You were put under a gag order and then, after many reminders of what is required by this court, you both complained about how unfairly you had been treated and then you violated the gag order yet again.

“You have made a mockery of the rule of law, insisting upon special treatment not available to any other citizen of this state or of this nation. You complained of not being treated even more specially. You have, in short, demonstrated your complete lack of respect for our nation.

“In a unanimous verdict, you have been adjudged guilty of 34 felony counts of fraud, not by a court, but by a jury of your peers. Your guilt will stand and be attached to your name forever. There is no escaping this accountability for your criminal acts.

“Because of the proximity of this sentencing hearing to the upcoming inauguration it is impossible to impose incarceration upon you presently or for the duration of your presidency. However, the law allows for a sentence to be suspended for a period of time.

“Therefore, Donald John Trump, this court sentences you be incarcerated for a period of 1 year for each felony count to which you have been found guilty, for a total of 34 years. These 1-year periods of incarceration shall be served sequentially and with no opportunity for parole.

“This judgment is to be suspended for the duration of your presidency. Upon leaving that office you will immediately be remanded to the State of New York to begin serving your term of incarceration.

“In addition, you are hereby fined the sum of $10,000 for each felony count to which you have been found guilty. You are required to pay this fine before Inauguration Day this year.

“Understand this, Mr. Trump: While the execution of your sentence is necessarily postponed, you have not been exonerated and your guilt stands, effective immediately. You are irrevocably a criminal, as much as a common thief or a murderer is a criminal. Your money, your notoriety and your position have no influence on that. You are a criminal fraud.

“You have famously said that you could shoot someone and never lose any voters. That may be true, but you would wind up in my courtroom and you would get away with nothing. In my courtroom you will be held accountable.

“Mr. Trump, you will be the first United States president to have entered office as a felon, putting a stain upon that office. You have embarrassed and debased yourself with your behavior before this court. The most disappointing thing is that you obviously haven’t the ability to understand any of that.

“Dismissed.”

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

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