21st Century

Fourth Reich and Moronica


POST 1261

 

SOTU

There is no commentary here on the State of the Union rant last night because, like millions of others, I boycotted it. I had a pretty strong feeling that it would be yet another “Oh, poor me, look what they’ve done to me” venomous whining, for which Trump is well and miserably known. This time, though, promised to be malevolently worse than most because the Supreme Court had done a smack down on his tariffs, taking away one of his play toys. I can’t stand whining any more than I can tolerate a blizzard of lies, so I didn’t watch. Here is my limit expressed pictorially.

“What We’ve Got Here Is A Failure To Communicate”

It’s an iconic movie quote, this from Cool Hand Luke, as the lead character played by Paul Newman didn’t obey the orders of the prison warden played by Strother Martin. The conflict wasn’t actually about communication, but about conflict borne of each of them trying to be in control. We’re playing out the control drama in our politics now and this isn’t the first time this has happened, although this time there truly is a failure to communicate – a willful one.

Read history professor Heather Cox Richardson’s detailing of our presidential and congressional manipulations in the 1880s and 1890s. The Republicans then did various slimy manipulations to gain control of Congress and to gain and hold the presidency to drastically and negatively affect the nation.

Clearly, they’re back and doing even worse today, because this time they threaten not only to win our upcoming elections by means of their lies, their slimy tricks and by back stabbing the rights of American citizens, but they promise to end America and turn it into a Fourth Reich.

History rhymes once again, and once more to our peril. We better win this conflict.

Revisiting The Moronica Awards

Two years ago the Moronica Awards were bestowed upon MAGA, the Trump suck ups, the apocalypticly selfish family, the close idiots, the performative administration hacks and, of course, the Orange Disease itself, all of them fascist and some Nazi wannabes. That post needs an update and a reminder.

The Update

In that post I wrote,

The Grand Prize Gold Star 2024 Moronica Award goes to Donald Trump for his outrageous and bafflingly stupid claim of immunity from prosecution for all of his criminal behavior while President. The unanimous decision [of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit] was quite aggressive in it’s smack down of Trump’s “I’m above the law” claims.

He will appeal to the Supreme Court, but don’t be surprised if they refuse to review the case. Trump’s argument really is that stupid.

I was right, that Trump’s argument really is that stupid, but I failed to account for a Constitution upending Supreme Court. Those six Trump supplicants gave him what he wanted but did not deserve.

In writing that 2024 post I had no idea that putting a president above the law was possible. It was just too hard to imagine the Court or anyone else would approve such an un-constitutional, un-American thing. Now we all know what that special permission for criminal actions can do to destroy us.

While the former Moronica Awards remain appropriately upon the mostly empty heads of the 2024 Award winners, they are now joined by six members of the Supreme Court, most of whom also approved the Citizens United decision in 2010 that allowed billionaires to buy our elections and the legislation they prefer.

Don’t be swayed into thinking that those justices are somehow dependable for democracy because of their smack down last week of Trump for his unlawful, un-constitutional tariffs. They are the same people who in the Dobbs case effectively and cruelly limited abortion and, by extension, limited pregnancy medical care, due to which women have died. They are the same justices who decided to hear Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship (the 14th Amendment), coming soon to a fascist rally near you.

So, the first 2026 Moronica Award goes to The Supreme Court Black Six: Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett, destroyers of justice and democracy all.

Watch this space for new Awards as the idiots earn them.

Now the reminder.

There is good news and there is bad news.

Yoda

The bad news is that there is no cure for moronica. It is a persistent, virulent disease for which there is no penicillin. There have been reports of a few cases of spontaneous remission, but these are only anecdotal. No scientific study has been possible because nearly all carriers of this disease cling to their hateful, extremist views as though they are lifelines in a violent sea.

While there is no known cure for moronica, we can overpower it.  That’s the good news.

I recently consulted with Master Yoda about this. He explained the path to me and directed that I share his wisdom with you. I recommend that you read his words out loud.

“A great and terrible disturbance there is in The Force. Happened this has many times before and evil is once again coming to destroy the Republic and enslave the people.

“If free people you are to remain, The Way of The Vote you must learn. A luminous path it is to what is right and what is good. To refuse The Vote is the path to the dark side.

“Not enough is it for you to do this great task. Influence others to Vote, you must. You will do this with the The Force that is within you and all about. Feel it connecting you to others and between you and the stacks of prepared ballots awaiting voters. Then guide others, you must, and follow you to the polls they will on the wave of The Force. Then will you feel the crushing of the disturbance in The Force, the moronica will be defeated and triumphant will be democracy.

“Go now. Much work there is to do. If your job you do well, The Vote will be with you, always.”

The next and critical battle will be on November 3. Meanwhile, there is much preparation for us to do, including donating to and supporting and promoting in additional ways the candidates who are the true defenders of our republic. Together we are the Army Of Democracy.

May The Vote be with us!
Trump Truth

For every Trump felony there is an overwhelming and opposite distraction.

Now we are moving to the edge of the ledge of a wag-the-dog illegal war. How many will die so that Trump can distract us from his felonies?

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    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 or Barnes & Noble 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. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Ready For Day 1


POST 1260

 

Dreams Of A Better Tomorrow

I’ve had many of them and perhaps you have, too. They all start with a new president cutting, crumbling and demolishing every Trump executive action.

My professional writer and right thinking boyhood pal Kirk Landers has thought about such things, too, and offers the following Guest Essay. Many thanks to him for allowing me to share it with you.

Note that Kirk’s offering is about January 20, 2029 at 12:01PM when the nation will sing Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead, but the same principle and with the same urgency to reverse national direction both domestically and internationally apply to January 3, 2027 at 12:01PM, immediately following the new Congress being sworn in.

____________________________________________

One thing the MAGAs got right was their preparation for taking action as soon as they took office. Yes, it was a Nazi agenda, but they created a model for democracy advocates to follow: a list of changes the President can invoke by himself, with the wording ready to go on Day #1; a list of Congressional bills in order of priority, with submittable language ready to go on Day #1, etc.

New Day #1 Priorities
.
  1. Fill key cabinet posts immediately.
  2. Demolish the ballroom and restore the East Wing.
  3. Sue the donors who paid for the ballroom to cover demolition and restoration costs.
  4. Remove Trump’s name from everything in Washington DC and all federal properties, including the White House.
  5. Contravene every single Presidential order issued by Trump by restoring prior regulations. Every. Single. One.
  6. Name a blue-ribbon panel of serious judicial minds to immediately begin reviewing candidates for six new Supreme Court justices. This panel would include liberals, conservatives and moderates, but all will have a proven track record of judicial gravitas and none will be advocates of screwball theories about how the constitution is to be interpreted.

There’s more, but that’s Day 1.

New First Month Priorities
.
  1. Create and fund a special counsel to investigate and prosecute illegal actions taken by Trump and his  administration.
  2. Create and fund a special court to hear cases against Trump administration people charged with crimes against humanity.
  3. Offer to cooperate with legitimate International courts pursuing charges against American officials, including military leaders, who participated in the various murders on the high seas of people who had not been tried or even indicted for a crime.
  4. Add six new justices to the Supreme Court.
  5. Fund a task force to investigate corruption on the Supreme Court
  6. Pass huge tax increases for the Epstein class.
  7. Pass bills that restore environmental norms for the country.
  8. Initiate legislation to nationalize the holdings of the tech bros. Just to fuck with them.

There’s more, but you get the idea. No more four-year, sloth-like “progress” at correcting the hideous mess these Nazi bastards created.

____________________________________________

We can add plenty to Kirk’s beginning list, like

– term limits for all elected or appointed officials

– the return to the U.S. of all illegally incarcerated, renditioned and disappeared victims of Trump’s revenge, retribution and self-satisfying cruelty and ethnic cleansing.

– the invitation to the stupidly fired government workers to bring their expertise back to us and their jobs back to them.

You get the idea. Be sure to add your notion of what needs to be done pronto in the Comments section below this post.

Oh, Kristi

Yes, I think the queen of photo ops in front of illegally and cruelly imprisoned men, standing brazenly wearing her too tight top stretched wide by her possibly augmented breasts deserves imprisonment, but for more substantial reasons, like her crimes against humanity, U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.

Her job was falsely described as having something to do with immigration, but she used it for plain Jane ethnic cleansing as she was directed to do by Trump.

What do you suppose her intake will look like at CECOT, the El Salvadoran torture prison?

For one thing, I think they’ll shave her head because they don’t want some louse to harbor lice and infect others. They can’t take away her artificially puffed up lips or her dental implants, but they can refuse cosmetic touch-up for her bionic eyebrows and eye lashes. The present ones will be allowed to deteriorate and fall off. Likely, though, the breast implants won’t fall off.

Her often displayed artificially large cowboy hat and her $75,000 Rolex watch won’t get past the door, nor will the aforementioned too tight top, nor will her too tight fashion jeans. She’ll have to get used to scratchy fabric, shapeless tee shirts and baggy orange prison pants.

The poor little darling of mean girls is going to find out what it’s like to not be in the billionaires’ circle of privilege. She’ll lack the ability to screw her “assistant,” Corey Lewandowski, in the bedroom at the back of a government B-737 Max. Yeah, Kristi’s gonna find out what it’s like on the other side, where not everything is fixed to her delight. Just like she inflicted on all those wrongly harassed, deported and locked up Hispanics and Blacks.

If You Do ONE Thing To Fight Trump This Week – From MoveOn

Boycott his State of the Union address. On Tuesday, February 24, President Trump will deliver his State of the Union address. We know what to expect: more lies, as well as blame-shifting meant to divide and disempower all of our communities. But this time, we’re not giving him any airtime, and neither should you.

That was written before the Supreme Court ruling smacking down Trump’s illegal – that’s the word they used – and deeply harmful illegal – that’s a word I use – tariffs. The Constitution makes clear that only Congress can levy tariffs. But in his overtly infantile way, Trump is pissed at the decision. He doesn’t like when his toys are taken away from him and he vows to find some other path to give him the right to do what the Court has said he does not have the right to do. In other words, his State of the Union speech is destined to be an hour and a half of temper tantrum and mind numbing bloviating.

So, don’t watch. Don’t give him any satisfaction of big viewership numbers, even though he’ll brag that he had the most viewers of a SOTU speech ever, that nobody ever had so many viewers even if nobody watches.

But do catch the Democrats’ rebuttal by Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) for a delicious serving of truth and reality.

And Another Thing

It has never made sense to me for cities to subsidize professional sports teams. Each of those teams is just another privately held, for profit business (except for the Green Bay Packers). I started and ran my commercial and industrial water treatment business for 25 years and no government anywhere offered to build a new plant for me. Now, why is that?

But that is exactly what various municipalities are offering to do for the Chicago Bears. They’re even offering to build roadways and other infrastructure to enhance the likelihood of the Bears’ profitability.

Much is made of the benefits to hotel, restaurant and other businesses that will flourish through having a local professional sports franchise, but all that will be true regardless of who pays for the infrastructure. I just can’t think of a good reason for sucking all those millions of dollars out of local wallets – like yours.

So, click on the link and sign the No Public Subsidies for Megaprojects! petition.

  • Time for action is dwindling

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    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 or Barnes & Noble 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. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

So Many Lies


I like a piece of description of Pam Bondi penned by Steve Schmidt.

Pamela Jo Bondi is a bad acid trip come to life, a powerful clown, a demented skank, and a dark comedy genius who will be laughed at in every room she ever walks into for the rest of her life.

Pam Bondi will die as a disbarred lawyer and a national disgrace, a historic villain and a lawless fascist who covered up the crimes of child rapists, while attempting to destroy American democracy.

Source: Rick Wilson’s post The Friday Brief, February 13, 2026

Not crazy about Schmidt’s use of the word “skank” – would have preferred “sleaze bag” – but otherwise his description is just fine. I say that because I watched much of the hearing and was struck by and offended by many of her finely honed and demented skills. It was embarrassing for our nation because we saw her in her fully puffed up contempt for reality, respect and decency. The entire world saw that.

  1. She did an amazing job of sucking up to President Trump, declaring him “the greatest president in our nation’s history.” Everyone, even Trump’s supporters, knows that is utterly false under any definition of reality, but she sucked up that way just the same.
  2. She continuously displayed her world class arrogance that long ago earned her lifetime membership in the Mean Girls Club. Example: she made a big show of ignoring Democrats by shuffling through papers the entire time a Democrat was addressing her. That plus her snide attacks and more should earn her a contempt of Congress citation.
  3. She was masterful in not answering the questions of Democrats on the panel when their questions headed in a direction she didn’t like, which was nearly always. However, she made great eye contact with Republicans and floated into a dreamy place when answering their soft ball questions. Utterly useless answers. Utterly useless witness.
  4. She set a new bar in speaking extensively on issues and events having nothing to do with the point of the hearing or even vaguely relating to the questions she was asked, irrespective of the questions or questioners. Filibustering as an art form.

That was Bondi replying to an Epstein question, as survivors sat behind her ignored and dismissed by the A.G. and the entire Department of Justice. Yes, really.

On January 24 of this year Alex Pretti was using his rights as an American to protest ICE’s brutality to Minnesotans. Pretti had bent to help a woman who had been pepper sprayed directly in her face and eyes by an ICE agent when ICE agents grabbed him, threw him to the ground and six of them completely subdued him. We know this because we all have seen the videos, as has Bondi. We also saw two of the ICE goons draw their guns and shoot and kill unarmed, subdued, passive Mr. Pretti 10 times. In his back.

Within minutes both Trump and the puppy murderer Kristi Noem declared to the public that Mr. Pretti was a terrorist, that he was there to murder as many ICE agents as he could, that he was a clear and present danger, all in contradiction of what everyone saw.

Bondi, on the other hand, used the murder to attempt to extort voter information from Gov. Tim Walz (MN). Not a word of empathy for Pretti or those who cared about him. I guess as our highest law enforcement official she doesn’t care too much about Mr. Pretti or justice, the rule of law or democracy. indeed, she refused to look at or acknowledge the Epstein survivors seated behind her, even when invited to do so. How does it happen that some are completely without empathy?

For at least the past year Bondi has worked hard to cover up the crimes and the identities of the Epstein pedophile players. She has continuously suppressed evidence and lied about it. She has directly violated the law by displaying the names of victims and has covered up the names of Epstein’s co-conspirators, the child rapists and traffickers. She is effectively an accomplice after the fact in the crimes of pedophilia, trafficking of girls as young as 9 years old and the rest. Instead of being our nation’s chief enforcer of justice, she is our chief cover up criminal, second only to Donald Trump.

Just another day in the Trump Administration

Paraphrasing what was said long ago about Richard Nixon, when Bondi was a little girl and her little girlfriends (assuming she had any) were getting Christmas gifts of dolls and cute stuffed animals, Bondi was given a briefcase. And she liked it.

Just another day in the Trump Administration – Again
.

President Donald Trump has been claiming that he stopped eight wars, but The Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette published a fine report issued by the Associated Press that sussed out the reality of Trump’s claim. Do read the piece, but to save you some time, the jury is back with a “nuh-uh.”

There were some clashes about which he couldn’t keep his mouth shut, but Trump didn’t end any of them.

He claims he strong armed India and Pakistan to stop their clash over the Kashmir region that has been ongoing for over 79 years. But India says that he didn’t do anything but flap his lips meaninglessly and that the conflict isn’t settled. So much for stopping eight wars.

Karoline Leavitt admonishing reporters who just don’t get it that up is down.

Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado presented Trump her Nobel Peace Prize medal. But the Nobel Institute says, “[o]nce a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others.” That means that it’s still Machado’s, regardless of whose small hands are on it.

Of course, the Nobel Institute’s rules won’t stop Trump from falsely claiming he won a Nobel Peace Prize for – what else? – stopping eight wars.

White House Press Secretary and official mean girl liar, Karoline Leavitt, has exploded with phony hyperbole over this, keeping this Trump lie ongoing, just like the rest of them.

Satire So Real

From Andy Borowitz, Feb. 10:

[Trump] remained bitter about the Super Bowl halftime show, telling reporters that “Bad Bunny took a job away from an American bunny.”

  • Time for action is dwindling

    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!), because 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 or Barnes & Noble 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. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

History


POST 1257

 

 

Everybody agrees that we want those people off our streets. That’s why during Trump’s first administration we locked up over 5,000 very dangerous children – they’re horrible people, very bad – some of them infants in diapers and you know what those are like. You’ll recall that Trump’s pet Nazi Stephen Miller told us that the cruelty is the point. That toxic history should tell us something about today and tomorrow.

Let’s start with a definition, agreeing that the “worst of the worst” are those convicted of violent crimes, like arson, homicide and various forms of assault. Good news! Our Department of Homeland Security is on duty rounding those guys up.

But according to DHS’s own report, less than 14% of the people they’ve rounded up were accused of or convicted of violent crime. Now, we can split hairs over whether those only accused and not convicted should be included in a “worst of the worst” lineup, but that’s just innocent until proven guilty, rule of law and Constitutional rights picky-picky.

Analysis Using Our 3rd Grade Math Skills

If less than 14% of the people zip tied, imprisoned, renditioned, deported and other forms of being abused and disappeared by ICE are accused or convicted of violent crimes, then our 3rd grade math skills tell us that

OVER 86% OF THE PEOPLE

DETAINED BY ICE

ARE INNOCENT

OF ANY CRIMINALITY.

BY DEFINITION THEY AREN’T THE

“WORST OF THE WORST”.

This is Trump’s full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the killing of the Central Park 5.

Surely you recall the case of the Central Park Five,** the horror of teens wrongfully accused and convicted of attacking and raping a jogger. After years of being imprisoned, they were exonerated in 2002 through the confession of the actual attacker and through DNA evidence that was illegally withheld by the prosecutor during their trial. In 1989 Trump took out a full page ad calling for the suffering and death of these innocents. He has never apologized for his cruelty. That history should have made clear to us what he is.

If you read Andy Borowitz’s short post of February 9, Trump’s Racism Isn’t News, Trump’s posting of Michelle and Barack Obama as apes will no longer surprise you..

In Trump’s case, his cruelty rhymes over and over.
.
More History – Say Their Names

A Sampling Of What Trump and his Totalitarian Monsters Bring Us.

Killed On The Street In Just The Past 3 Months:

Alex Jeffrey Pretti: A 37-year-old nurse fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 24, 2026.

Renee Nicole Good: A 37-year-old mother of three fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026.

Keith Porter Jr.: A 43-year-old father fatally shot by an off-duty ICE agent in Los Angeles on December 31, 2025.

Isaias Sanchez Barboza: Fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent on December 11, 2025.

Josué Castro Rivera: A 24-year-old from Honduras who was struck by a vehicle on a Virginia interstate while fleeing ICE agents on October 23, 2025.

Deaths in ICE Detention (Fiscal Year 2025) – Causes Not Listed, But You Can Imagine:

Ismael Ayala Uribe: Died September 22, 2025.

Oscar Duarte Rascon: Died September 8, 2025.

Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas: Died August 31, 2025.

Isidro Perez: A 75-year-old Cuban national who died in ICE custody in Florida on June 26, 2025.

Jesus Molina-Veya: A 45-year-old Mexican citizen who died at the Stewart Detention Center on June 7, 2025.

Abelardo Avelleneda-Delgado: A 68-year-old Mexican citizen who died during transport on May 5, 2025.

Marie Ange Blaise: A 44-year-old Haitian national who died at the Broward Transitional Center on April 25, 2025.

For a more comprehensive historical list, including those dating back to 2004, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other advocacy groups like the Southern Border Communities Coalition’s Fatal Encounters and ICE’s Detainee Death Reports maintain trackers of deaths that occur in CBP and ICE facilities.
Source: Google AI
.
Current History From the Misogyny Department

You already know of the cheating, lying, manipulating and foul anti-Constitution crap in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, but this new slice of discrimination calls for our attention.

Recall the Gallup survey detailed in this post, showing that 2 out of 5 young American women (ages 15 – 44) want to emigrate – leave the U.S. permanently. Here are some reasons why, as outlined by Sheila Markin in her Zoom announcements of February 9***:

Heritage Foundation’s new attack on women’s rights.

You might not have heard about the next regressive playbook similar to Project 2025 to keep women barefoot and pregnant, but it has arrived. Sarah [Garza Resnick, CEO of Personal PAC] discusses it. The motive is to get more women to have babies to restock what these white supremacists believe should be a white Christian nation. Among other things it calls for an end to no-fault divorce, an end to IVF, an end to birth control and greater tax burdens for people who do not have children. Oh, and it calls for a dismantling of programs for women seeking higher education – because educated women tend to work instead of being barefoot and pregnant.

Women solely as submissive breeders, dull witted sex toys, robotic servants – it’s the fever dream, the wet dream of White supremacists.

Quick Quiz

Rules: No cheating. Answer each question before looking at the answers.

Questions:

  1. Why are the values of the far right always cruel to those who aren’t White, Christian and male?
  2. Why are so many policies promoted by the far right regressive and repressive to so many?
  3. Why do far righties hold fast to practices and beliefs stemming from at least, say, 1619 when the first African slaves were delivered to America? Okay, it goes back to way before that.

Answers:

  1. Fear. They see everything as a zero-sum game and are afraid of losing power and wealth if anyone else benefits.
  2. Fear. They see everything as a zero-sum game and are afraid of losing power and wealth if anyone else benefits.
  3. Fear. They see everything as a zero-sum game and are afraid of losing power and wealth if anyone else benefits.

_________________________________________

* Mark Twain was and is right: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

** The list of outrageous and discriminatory actions in this case is extensive. Read the report and remember that Trump continued to want to execute these teens even after they had been proven innocent.

*** Sheila Markin publishes The Markin Report and hosts a weekly Friday Zoom featuring high power guests from the political arena. Contact her at [email protected] to attend.

  • Time for action is dwindling

  • 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!), because 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 or Barnes & Noble 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. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

What Is Actually Happening Today


POST 1254

Don Lemon’s Bogus Arrest Isn’t What You Think

He committed journalism. So far that still is not a crime. But it was only a matter of time until Don Lemon would be arrested.

For years Lemon has been critical of Trump. He’s laughed at and ridiculed him, been disparaging, accusatory, condemning and, worse, Lemon has been accurate in his unsympathetic appraisal of the malignant narcissist. That alone would be enough for Trump to jam Lemon into his retribution pipeline, his enemies list, about which both he and Pam Bondi lie, saying it doesn’t exist.

Clearly, Trump believes Lemon has earned retribution and other cruelty. If Trump doesn’t suppress Lemon, Trump would be forced to see himself as a loser, the very worst thing. So he must crush that nasty bug. But there’s more and it’s worse.

Don Lemon is a full time, card carrying Black person. And he compounds that effrontery by being gay. He’s not who the heavy-starch-in-their-underwear, moral storm troopers insist that he must be. Don Lemon is the perfect target for persecution by racist Trump. And there’s moreT

Trump and his fascist lieutenants are on a full court press to eliminate our rights, focused primarily on the First Amendment. They’ve sent their Gestapo to many cities to shut down freedom of speech, the right to assemble and the right to petition government. And they’re on a 50 state rampage to eliminate voting rights for all but those who will vote for Trump.

He’s already attacked freedom of the press with his extortion of CBS, ABC and now his baseless arrests of Don Lemon and other journalists.

Lemon’s arrest isn’t just retribution, It is an attack on our freedom and our democratic foundation.

Historical precedent

It was then-Vice President Dick Cheney on (I think it was) Meet the Press. There was great criticism across the country of Dubya’s invasion of Iraq, Cheney’s pet project. He proclaimed his absolute certainty that deposing the tyrant Saddam was worth our blood and treasure. Far worse, he told we critics of the war that we better watch what we say.

WATCH WHAT WE SAY!?

If we were to criticize him, Dubya, Rumsfeld, their policy, their strategy or their power he would – what? – come gunning for us? Lock us up? Cheney’s was a barely concealed threat against the First Amendment’s protection against government abridgement of our freedom of speech. We might not have seen it then, but that was prelude to today.

Now

Trump, Bondi and a few DOJ bench warmers are saying the same thing, that we better watch what we say. They’re taking Lemon to court to make it stick. Were they to win their blatantly anti-Constitutional case, all freedom will be taken from all of us. The First Amendment will be burned to ashes.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens are already threatened with violence and incarceration, even a torture prison, this as government policy to eliminate our freedoms and place all power in Trump’s hands.

And Trump won’t stop there, Here are a quick list of the Amendments and Article II of the Constitution.

Q. Once the First Amendment is gone, what will be destroyed next?

A. Everything

I say again: Lemon’s arrest isn’t just retribution, It is an attack on our freedom and our democratic foundation.

Duplicitous

Maybe it’s just more of Trump’s miserable, self-serving, living-the-lie bullsh*t. Read this short report from Peter Baker’s January 13 NYT piece, Trump Supports the Protesters, Except Those Protesting Him.

From The Onion

President Trump had a ringing message of solidarity on Tuesday for demonstrators in the streets. “KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” he wrote on social media. He decried “the senseless killing of protesters,” and added that those pulling the triggers “will pay a big price.”

He meant the protesters in Tehran, not Minneapolis. By contrast, the people in the streets of Minnesota, he wrote just 63 minutes earlier, were “anarchists and professional agitators” trying to cover up a fraud scandal. He vowed that “THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!”

This is yet another example of Trump as democracy destroyer.

Tom Homan, Border Bastard

From Mother Jones:

Homan was a key architect in implementing family separations as acting ICE director in the first Trump administration [Think: thousands of kids in cages. Over 1.000 still are not reunited with their parents.]. In the president’s second term, he was appointed “border czar” to take charge of mass deportations and was investigated over cashing in on it. (We reported with the Project On Government Oversight that many of his former private business clients won lucrative border and immigration-related government contracts.)

Plus, Homan is the $50,000 FBI bag man. And he’s continuing the illegal, un-Constitutional ICE Gestapo brutality in Minneapolis, coming soon to Ohio and Maine.

That’s right: Homan’s appointment to Assistant Chief Cruelty Dispenser is yet another example of Trump as democracy destroyer.

Quote Of The Month

On NBC’s Meet The Press, Sunday, January 18, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained why we are in a state of emergency, by saying,

“The national emergency is avoiding a national emergency.”

Let your eyeballs settle a moment for having gone googly over that idiotic doublespeak.

Next-Gen M1 Abrams Tank. Picture that parked down the street from your house.

There is always the possibility of something causing an emergency. So, if Bessent’s absurd remark has weight, then we are always in a state of national emergency. That’s handy for Trump because that could allow him to cite the Insurrection Act and deploy our active duty military with their weapons of war everywhere in the country.

And that would make it much easier for Trump to destroy democracy and accrue all power to himself.

It Isn’t New, But It’s Just As Ugly

From The Diary of Anne Frank, January 13, 1943:

Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. They’re allowed to take only a knapsack and a little cash with them, and even then, they’re robbed of these possessions on the way. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared. Women return from shopping to find their houses sealed, their families gone. The Christians in Holland are also living in fear because their sons are being sent to Germany. Everyone is scared.

We’re living in a mad king, Jaberwocky moment like that right now and it’s very, very dangerous for us all.

Song of the Month

You must listen to Bruce Springsteen’s song Streets of Minneapolis. It’s so strong and so sad and so honoring and so brave.

A Call From July 4, 1776 – Pick Up The Phone. It’s For You

We are endowed with .  .  .

.  .  . certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness — That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed .  .  .

.  .  .  but we do not consent to this government!

We are at a choice point. We can either allow ourselves to be terrorized into submitting to Trump’s dictatorship or we can stand against it.

Many ask what we can do. Read Steve Schmidt’s Defiance Is The Cure. Then steel yourself for the patriotic battle that we will win.

Now, tell me you’re seeing what is actually happening today.
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    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 or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
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    6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

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    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

A New Proposal


POST 1251

Let’s take a short break from the ongoing ICE brutality, from the corruption and incompetence of the Trump administration, from its bedrock of self-serving dishonesty, from Trump as pit bull, using every American thing as a fire hydrant to piss on and claim as his own and from the America-defeating Republican cowardice.

You remember Gaza, right? Those people were all over international news for, what, a year? Maybe two? First they were evil for the thousands of rockets they fired into Israeli cities and then for the October 7 massacre.* Then they were victims when Israel hit back. Then they were pitiable for their lack of human basics, like water, food and shelter.

Then something happened somewhere else and the world forgot about them. But their dire circumstances remain and call for something to alleviate the suffering. Oddly, they offer a formerly unimaginable solution to this very old problem in this very old region, so let’s remember these people for a couple of minutes.

The Palestinians can’t have all the territory “from the river to the sea,” regardless of college student chants. The chanters are people who think they are well meaning, but they very much are not.

The Palestinians and the Israelis refuse to live together peacefully. There are sovereignty and religious problems that are intractable and all solutions offered for co-existence have proven to be unacceptable to some or all. People are locked into their stories and will do anything to prove themselves right. But we shouldn’t let self-defeating intransigence get in the way of a solution and the present circumstances offer one that was formerly unthinkable.

As you consider what follows, ignore the current reality of the immobile far right coalition ruling Israel now. It will take more time, but Netanyahu will at last go to prison and the Knesset will balance quite differently.

Israel has all the power in that region right now, so it can dictate. Consider this dictatorial solution.

Click for a larger view.

It is for Israel to declare a two state solution. A new state of Palestine will be carved out of Jordan – the east bank of the Jordan River – and part of Syria and Lebanon. Gazans will be relocated to that territory. Some may not mind being forcibly moved, because Gaza is not much more than rubble now. If they do mind, that won’t matter much, because, again, Israel has all the power and can dictate.

That Jordan, Syria and Lebanon will have to cede territory to the new state of Palestine is a tough one. No country would look favorably on such a loss of its territory. Plus, since 1948 no Arab or Muslim country has ever offered anything to sustain the Palestinian people. They have periodically made wars designed to eradicate Israel and they’ve supplied materials for Hamas to use to build rockets to fire into Israeli cities and kill Israelis. Otherwise, no Arab or Muslim state has ever helped, nor now wants to help Palestinians. This is going to require some truly exceptional diplomacy and perhaps some exquisite arm twisting.

Bear in mind that the current configuration of states in that region is largely due to European countries arbitrarily dictating it be so following WW I. Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon didn’t exist before then.

That carving up of land was done following the Ottoman Empire having grabbed vast territories and reshaped borders for hundreds of years before that. Redefining territory in that region is almost an international sport. While unpalatable to the current countries, carving out land for a new state of Palestine has historical precedent, including the establishment of Israel.

All those Gazans will have to go somewhere. They can’t live within Israel. A separate state is the obvious answer.

Israel will absorb Gaza. They will own what they broke – the Pottery Barn rule. Fixing it will fall entirely to Israel. And Israel will absorb the West Bank for its obvious security value.

To sweeten the deal, Muslims will be allowed access to all their holy sites in Jerusalem. The physical and spiritual security there will be protected by an international guard.

The Palestinians will have to do the very hard work to build a country of their own, perhaps with international help, like the Israelis did. We Americans will have to help. Our no-sighted hard heads will have to deal with the fact that the citizens of the new Palestinian state won’t be their notion of White or Christian. To these hard heads I offer new age psychotherapy: get over it!

This solution is outrageous, yes, but nobody will be able to prevent the implementation of this unilateral solution because, one more time, Israel holds all the cards. Everyone will abhor this idea – everyone – even as nobody – literally nobody – has a better idea.

Sure, there is mountain of details to surmount to make this work. But refusing that climb guarantees unending war, miserable people suffering and dying in spiritual and physical degradation and entirely without hope for a better life. We know that because we’ve seen this movie over and over.

Got a better idea? Put it out there. The world awaits.

Did this piece make you think? Did it distract you from your distractions? Good.

Hurry. People are suffering.

The Last Laugh

From Andy Borowitz, The Borowitz Report of January 9:

LONDON (The Borowitz Report)—In a move that was widely hailed across the free world, on Friday King Charles III of the United Kingdom reasserted British rule over the colonies formerly known as the United States of America.

“In recent days, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller have been advocating a muscular return to colonialism,” the monarch said. “I couldn’t agree more with those chaps.”

“We lost the colonies because our King went insane,” Charles added. “But now the shoe’s on the other bloody foot, isn’t it?”

As for what this change in status would mean for Trump, the King said, “Perhaps he could room with his old chum, my idiot brother.”

_____________________________________

* Right, it was Hamas. But Hamas is composed entirely of Gazans. And the non-Hamas Gazans tolerated Hamas’ constant violence, so it’s on all Gazans, like it or not.

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    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 or Barnes & Noble 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. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

No Fever, But A Hopeful Dream


POST 1250

January 6, 2027, 9:00 PM EST

East fireplace, Statuary Hall, U.S.Capitol Building. Photo courtesy of Daniel Holt

The mid-term election is over, Congress members have been sworn in and the new Congress is open for business. The Democrats are in the majority in both the House and in the Senate. Hakeem Jeffries is the new Speaker of the House. The majority leader in the Senate is a surprise – Elizabeth Warren.

This evening the two chamber leaders sit in comfortable chairs on either side of the east side fireplace in Statuary Hall in the Capitol Building. Behind them are statues of Alexander Hamilton Stevens of Georgia and Robert M. La Follett of Wisconsin,* both seated. There is a robust fire in the fireplace as red lights on the front of two television cameras glow and Senator Warren begins.

Senate Majority Leader Elizabeth Warren: Good evening. We’re here to address the American people and to formally declare what your Congress will do so that you know what to expect. We are here to stand guard for you and for our country. Thank you for being with us on this historic night and on this journey of American patriotism.

Democrats have taken majority control of both houses of Congress and we embark now on the journey to restore our democracy and return the Congress to being a co-equal branch of government focused on the values, the needs and the hopes of We The People, exactly as the Founders intended.

Speaker of the House Hakeem Jeffries: We begin with a symbolic demonstration of the promises we made to you during the mid-term campaign. We invited the minority leaders of both cambers of Congress to join us tonight, but they declined. Then, because our country needs both parties to work together and focus on the Constitution, our laws and the oath of office that every one of us has taken, we’ve offered the opportunity to all Congressional Republicans to participate in our ceremony tonight. None accepted our invitation.

Sen. Warren holds up a thick document.

EW: This is a copy of Project 2025, the horrid, anti-America fascism handbook written by the Heritage Foundation. It has been followed for the past two years by our attention seeking, insatiably needy, power grabbing president and our far too compliant Republican colleagues in Congress. Tonight Speaker Jeffries and I will rip out every section of this ghastly document, one after another, and throw them into the fire. We will burn them as a symbol, a declaration to put all on notice, that we will fight back against every one of the abhorrent policies that our Republican colleagues have failed to oppose.

These policies assaulted your rights.They took money from you and gave it to the super rich. They destroyed the agencies that have kept us healthy. They neutered the parts of government that have for decades helped to educate our children. They de-funded what made us the world’s research leader and compromised what has kept all of us safe in a very dangerous world. All of that destruction and more needs to be reversed and fresh air breathed into our country. That’s what we have promised to you that we will do. We begin that sacred duty tonight symbolically casting out this Project 2025 demon.

Sen. Warren hands the document to Speaker Jeffries.

Speaker Jeffries holds up the document.

HJ: The first section in this that is focused on the presidency opens by taking a cheap shot at – and this is exactly what they wrote – the “supposedly ‘woke’ faction of the country.” That’s what they disparagingly call most of us. “Woke.”

Whatever “woke” is, it’s their hateful slap in the face of most Americans. Throughout this document the authors seek to divide us and diminish whole swaths of the American people, which inevitably excludes you from the okay group. That stops now.

Here’s the really odd thing. They continue in this section of their Mein Kampf manifesto to quote Founder James Madison in Federalist No. 47, with his warning,

“[t]he accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

But that is exactly what President Trump and his compliant Republican Congress have been doing – tyranny!

The Republican authors of this domestic terrorism manual give us no clue why they point Madison’s accusing finger at themselves, as that puts the lie to everything else they wrote. Perhaps in their cruelty, they really just don’t get it.

EW: They have brought us tyranny. You can see it in the escalating grocery store prices caused by the president’s illegal tariffs. You can see it as masked gunmen bang down doors and drag people out of their homes. You can see it as they rip our people out of their vehicles and throw them to the ground. You can hear it as a fellow immobilized in an ICE agent’s headlock yells repeatedly “I’m a citizen!. I have identification!” and the agent yells, “I don’t care” and proceeds to throw him into an ICE vehicle. And you can see it as ICE agents gun down American citizens who pose no threat and who have broken no laws.

You can see how they terrorize our citizens everywhere they can, hiding behind their face masks, Kevlar vests and menacing their weapons of war. They do all this as our perverse, obscene, un-American Justice Department bestows on them a claim of immunity. You can see it as millions have lost their jobs due to illegal and unconstitutional tariffs and you can see it as our Department of Justice violates our laws every day. This stuff is right out of the Project 2025 playbook. And it’s the stuff Hitler did. It’s what Stalin did and it’s what decades of Chinese leaders have done. Brutality and intimidation. And Trump and the Republicans are doing it now.

We’ll have no more of that.

Speaker Jeffries rips that section from the Project 2025 document, throws it into the fire and hands the rest of the document to Sen. Warren.

EW: Let’s look at another section.

They proceed to unmask the anti-American directives in this horrid document until the entire thing – all 922 pages – is in flames, one section at a time being reduced to ash.

EW: Together we welcome back our republic, our democracy and the America that we love.

_________________________

But today, January 18, 2026, the destruction of our republic, committed by fascist wannabes, continues. If you have doubts about that, check with anyone in Minneapolis. Or Portland. Or New Jersey. Or Chicago. Or .  .  .
.
The symbolism of this dream must be made real.
.
Trump, in his manipulations, his money and power grabs and his mania to out-Putin Putin; in his inept, incompetent and criminal lieutenants who wield their power with the glee of imbecilic sociopaths; his Gestapo attacks, beatings, jailings and murders carried on with impunity and immunity – it’s all a package designed to drive us to despair and to make us succumb to Trump’s destruction of our democracy so that he can be our all powerful dictator. We must not – we cannot let that happen. Our job is to make this democracy dream come true.
.
The antidote to despair is action.

Take action!

________________________________________

* Many thanks go to Daniel Holt, Associate Historian, US Senate Historical Office for his help in identifying the gentlemen represented by the statues on either side of the east fireplace.

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    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 or Barnes & Noble 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. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

An Update – With Questions


POST 1249

ICE Murders

Intending no disrespect, Renee Nicole Good is still dead. That’s the way it is when an ICE thug shoots someone in the face or shoots them pretty much anywhere else. It isn’t a movie and the actors don’t get to go home. Renee Nicole Good is and will remain dead and her children will remain orphans.

That was said to make it clear that she isn’t a statistic or an avatar. She was a real person just like you and me and now she’s dead because of ICE brutality directed by Donald “Shaky Brain” Trump, Stephen “Goebbels” Miller, Christi “Puppy Killer with a Rolex” Noem and Pam “President’s Hit Man” Bondi.

It doesn’t get more real or more permanent than dead, and our titular leaders don’t give a damn about that or anything important to you, like your life, just as they don’t care about Renee Good losing hers.

Two more innocents were gunned down by Border Patrol last week in Portland, OR, so it seems right to do a count of the deaths by our immigration thugs. Here’s what I found from Google AI.

Since January 1, 2017, ICE has reported that 70 people have died in its custody. [Note that we don’t know how many have died in the El Salvador torture prison.]

Independent reports suggest a higher potential number, with a 2024 analysis by the ACLU, Physicians for Human Rights, and American Oversight finding that 95% of 52 deaths in ICE custody between 2017 and 2021 were potentially preventable with adequate medical care. 
.

A report by The Trace revealed that between 2015 and 2021, 59 shootings by ICE officers resulted in 23 fatalities. [We must have had a lot of domestic terrorist drivers who tried to run down ICE agents in those years.]

More recent reports from late 2025 and early 2026 indicate a notable increase in the use of force.
.
During the current Trump second term, federal immigration agents have shot at civilians at least 16 times, resulting in four deaths and at least seven injuries, according to a data analysis. [all emphasis original]
.
None of the deaths of incarcerated people were of White guys. But most, maybe all, of the deaths of protesters gunned down by ICE were White. Make of that what you will.
Questions

Do you feel safer?

Is our nation safer?

Is it okay for a vigilante quality posse of goons to shoot law abiding people?

Is this the kind of country you expected or want?

Did you vote for this? This question will make a lot of people twist their innards. Guilt is a terrible thing.

More Pesky Questions

Have you noticed that nearly all the Immigration and Customs Enforcement – ICE – action is happening hundreds to thousands of miles from our borders, where there is no immigration going on?

Can we now stop pretending that what is going on has anything to do with the enforcement of our immigration laws?

Can we now publicly declare that our officially designed domestic terrorism is actually about racial domination in pursuit of White racial purity? You know: like superior Aryan purity?

Playing With Numbers

It’s clear that making this a White Christian nation is a key priority of Trump, MAGA and most super rich guys. So, what would it look like if we removed all those pesky “others”?

We’re already well on the way to expelling all Brown and Black people. People with Somali ancestry are obviously next to be imprisoned and expelled, even though between 70 and 83% of them are U.S. citizens and most others are here legally. But this is the Trump era, so those numbers are no impediment to ICE thuggery.

Muslims, Jews and Asians will likely be next. I have no clue what they’ll do with/to Native Americans. Since Trump likes Andrew Jackson so much, maybe there will be another Trail of Tears that leads to deportation vehicles.

The population of the country is about 348 million, so when we get rid of the 60% of unwelcome non-White, non-Christian “others” the population will be about 139 million.

That leaves me wondering who will do all the jobs that those disappeared people are doing now. What will Trump do with all the vacant rooms in his hotels? What will be our sense of ourselves? Don’t ask me because I won’t make the cut. I’ll be looking for a country to live in.

Three Questions

Who will remove Emma Lazarus’ poem from the base of the Statue of Liberty?

The last line to each stanza of the Star Spangled Banner is “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave,” just as Francis Scott Key wrote it. Who will compose a revised last line that both rhymes and reflects our new and deeply compromised freedom and bravery?

When Trump has Arlington National Cemetery dug up to build the “Nobody has ever seen anything like this” Trump U.S. National Golf Course, what will he do with the 430,000 caskets and headstones of all those “suckers and losers”? How will the caskets and headstones be kept properly paired?

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    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 or Barnes & Noble 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. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Why Venezuela?


POST 1246

Severe Mental Illness

This pic is small because*

Mary Trump’s book, Too Much and Never Enough, details the background of her severely emotionally damaged and galactically needy Uncle Donny. She knows the details because it is family lore to her. Alas, I’ve heard her speak many times but have not read her book. Nor do I have formal training or credentials as a mental health expert, but why should that stop me from explaining the real story about Venezuela?

We start where Trump started: his daddy didn’t care much about him and paid him no attention, no matter how outrageously he acted. He was left with massive validation deficits and lifelong severe daddy issues.

He was sent to military school in the hope that the discipline there would magically convert this primitive savage into a civilized human being, but that hope was dashed. His school record shows that he was a bully and actually tried to throw a fellow cadet out a window.

He was mentored by his father’s attorney, Roy Cohn, an awful man who aided Joseph McCarthy in his communist witch hunts that ruined countless lives.

From Google AI:

.  .  .  Roy Cohn was Donald Trump’s fiercely loyal mentor, trusted advisor, and surrogate father figure, teaching [Trump] ruthless tactics for business and media manipulation;

So, Trump found a daddy to give him attention and who taught him world class manipulation. Cohn taught him to never apologize for anything and to never admit making an error. He taught Trump to always double down and attack. Trump was a good student of Cohn’s lessons in cruelty, as the past 10 years attest.

Of course, you’ve observed his excessive need for adulation, including those disgusting, fawning Cabinet meetings. You’ve seen his inability to remain focused, his need to constantly attack others and much more mentally unstable stuff. In fact, he just attacked a sovereign nation and brought charges against its president that are laughably amateurish. And that leads to the reasons for that invasion and kidnapping.

You may recognize the pic to the left, as it was published in the Disambiguation last Sunday as The Onion used it. Trump does this show off pose for his executive orders, so I proposed that because his actions are so blatantly an infantile lurch for attention, the proper caption for the picture is, “Look! Look! I made a boom-boom!“. It’s a piece of his lifelong mania of craving attention, which brings us to Venezuela.

Little Donny had his sycophantic, brain-free bumblers cobble together a massive invasion force. They bombed an apartment building, destroyed infrastructure in Caracas and killed what’s estimated to be 32 members of the Venezuelan military and an unknown number of innocent civilians, all to kidnap the president of that country and his wife.

Trump has admitted repeatedly that the invasion was about securing Venezuelan oil. He’s going to sic our big petro companies on the country and its oil fields, they’ll rebuild oil pumping infrastructure and everyone will make a lot of money. Which is a load of horse pucky, because the petro guys don’t want the opportunity to spend billions of dollars in such an unsure venture. They were burned badly doing that years ago, plus the price of oil is so low that it’s uneconomical to pump it at all.

Trump hasn’t even mentioned drug smuggling as a motivation for his cruelty heaped on Venezuela, which is sensible, since most illicit drugs shipped from Venezuela go to Europe, not to the U.S. Plus, he had already pardoned Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who had shipped over 400 tons of cocaine and illegal weapons into the U.S. After that outrageous pardon, it’s hard for Trump to claim he’s tough on the illegal drug trade.

He’s already rattling his sabre at neighboring Columbia and Cuba and threatening to buy Greenland or just take it from Denmark.

That is a map of Greenland overlaid by the red, white and blue, captioned, “SOON”. It’s from the wife of American chief Nazi Stephen Miller. It was posted Saturday on X after our invasion of Venezuela. Not surprisingly, the Danes, who own Greenland, don’t like it.

So, now we’re down to the real reasons for Trump’s invasion and kidnapping of the head of a country.

His messages and his actions couldn’t be clearer: he’s demonstrating that he’s so powerful that he can do anything, he can dominate anyone, that he has no need to be truthful or obey the law and that he can intimidate everyone. Said another way, his message is,

Look! Look! I’m so special! I’m so powerful!
Look at the impressive things I’ve done, Daddy!
Now for sure you’ll love me!
.

But Daddy will never love him. Never.

Nothing will ever be enough for Trump and he doesn’t care how many people he harms in his quest for what he cannot have, including the 32+ he just killed in Venezuela and the over 100 he blew up in their small boats; including the people he bombed in Nigeria and Syria; including the people victimized by Trump’s Gestapo, our unaccountable ICE thugs. He loves fascism for its gift of absolute power. There’s no need for him to consider other people, because he can just run over them, and even whole countries.

From Rick Wilson, Venezuela is the Iraq of Vietnams, The Easy Part Is Over:

Snatching the bad guy is the easy part.

The hard part is what happens next: when the cameras leave, when the speeches fade, and when reality shows up with the butcher’s bill.

And this is where the danger starts, because the Trump administration is built to win news cycles, not outcomes.

Be clear that winning news cycles is solely about “Look at me!”

Trump is locked in his constant parade of ever-expanding, ever more outrageous actions to gain attention and approval that he didn’t get and will never get from Daddy.

About the Fascism Part

From Steve Sheffey:

Here’s a “Clip from the 1942 Spencer [Tracy] / [Katherine] Hepburn film Keeper of the Flame that could have been filmed today.”

The film’s message of lawlessness, domination and crushing cruelty is frighteningly familiar.

At the time of this film we were fighting fascism and fascists and between 50 – 85 million people died. We had our democracy wits about us then. We won the fight and saved our democracy and made democracy available to all who wanted it. We need those same wits about us again to once more fight fascists, except this time we have to fight them here in America.

All because Trump has gigantic daddy issues.

And that’s why we invaded Venezuela. Or maybe it was a practice run for invading Cuba, as Lawrence O’Donnell posited last night. Regardless, it’s all about daddy issues.

For further context and some actual reality in this fabricated, Trump-led awful fantasy that darkens our skies every day, read Heather Cox Richardson’s January 6 post. Who but a mentally and emotionally compromised person would do all that harm?

___________________________________________

* This pic is small because I can’t stand looking at that crepe’s face and because he’s such a small, insignificant person. He knows it and he’s terrified that you’ll figure that out.

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    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 or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
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    6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Doing “Things”


POST 1245

Preface: Nearly all of this post was written prior to the American invasion and kidnapping done in Venezuela yesterday. Consequently, there are just a few comments about that particular dog wagging and lawbreaking included here. We will do a deeper dive soon. Meanwhile, keep your eye on the prize.

Click me for the story by The Onion. My preferred caption for all of the posed pictures of Trump signing an executive order is, “Look! Look! I made a boom-boom!”

We the People are an endlessly clever and creative band and we relentlessly ridicule those who have earned and richly deserve our contempt and shaming. The year just past provided non-stop material for satire and verbal punches in the nose to our national abusers of decency, the law, the Constitution and even rational thinking. A few favorites are sprinkled in this post.

First, though, please accept my thanks for reading these posts and sometimes commenting on them. We all can do our part in this war to stop fascism, to protect and defend our Constitution, our democracy and our way of life and to restore decency to its place at the forefront of our cherished values. These posts are part of my modest effort to do just that. Indeed, when you see a message in these posts encouraging you to share them and to encourage others to subscribe (one more time: it is still and will remain a freebie!) it’s for the purpose of stretching the reach of the message from those of us who think democracy is a pretty good thing worthy of our collective moral muscle, to those who need our encouragement.

This particular post is less my words than direction to the brilliance of others. We start with the year end post of Prof. Heather Cox Richardson.

Click me

She brings context and points a finger at the guilty responsible for so many deeply destructive, anti-Constitutional and outright illegal things that have happened since January 20. Most examples are blood boilers, preludes to full-on fascism, but some really good stuff happened, too, like judicial decisions that pinned Trump’s ears back. Those are fun.

Many commentaries are persuasive, yet most often we’re left not knowing what to do to make the change we want to come about. Turns out some people can help fill that “huh?” hole.

For example, Robert Reich published 10 Crucial Things You Can Do in 2026 and it’s a really good list. You’ll know how to do every one of those “things”.

Here’s one of my “things”.

Are you on the fence about mean girl puppy murderer and poser in front of men illegally jammed into a torture prison at her direction, Christie Noem? Should she be removed from her post as Secretary of Homeland Security?

First, Watch this little video of Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (IL-3) as she skewers Noem by detailing her lies, her law breaking and her joyful cruelty. Then decide a proper fate for her.

Next, call your representative and senators and demand that they oust this talent-less Eva Braun by means of a humiliating impeachment. That’s a “thing” you can do.

Now Some Bitter, Well-Earned Congratulations:

Watch and listen to Jesse Welles’ message about recruiting ICE thugs. If you want more to make you think, click here.

– to the many millions of Americans who voted for Trump and who have lost their Obamacare subsidy so that their healthcare insurance now costs more than double what it cost last week. That will make it completely impossible for millions to get insurance at all and they will be relegated like so many to only the hospital emergency room for healthcare, including for their children. Millions of them live in red states and they didn’t vote for this to happen.

– to the hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens and legal residents who have been unjustly thrown to the ground, handcuffed, their faces mashed into the pavement, thrown into unmarked vans and either imprisoned or deported, all without an arrest warrant or even reasonable suspicion of any wrongdoing. It sucks to be an American with fascists in power and only the sociopaths voted for this.

– to the millions of kids who now go hungry because of the cruel withholding of SNAP benefits, a huge proportion of which used to go to families in red states. Again, they voted for Trump, but they didn’t vote for this to happen.

Grifting with Jesus

– to all the dozens of Venezuelans who have been illegally murdered at sea and now on land, but who were never formally accused of, incarcerated for, convicted of or sentenced for any crime.

– to all of us for our windfall benefit created by Trump’s piracy at sea of at least two oil super tankers filled with Venezuelan oil.

– to the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who have died of starvation or lack of inexpensive medicines because Trump ended the USAID program.

– to all of us for the blatant crushing under heel of the First Amendment on Christmas day by Trump and various departments of what’s left of our government. “If lawmakers could destroy the right of freedom of conscience, they could destroy all other unalienable rights. Those in charge of government could throw representative government out the window and make themselves tyrants.” Read Heather Cox Richardson for this sad story.

Maybe you’d prefer an upside down Bible from the steps of St. John’s Church.

– to the terrorist cult of MAGA for its cheering Trump auctioning off a hastily painted Jesus, where he announced through his actions yet again that there is no bottom. There is nothing so undignified, so clownishly demeaning of our country that Trump will refuse the opportunity to grab it by its septic tank and tarnish our nation before the world.

– to Merrick Garland and his timid DOJ for epic, even galactic foot dragging, thereby refusing to enforce our laws. That allowed Trump to run in and win the 2024 election. See William A. Finnegan’s take down of what happened. This story will gnarl your innards yet again over the DOJ cowardice that enabled the current, ongoing destruction of our Constitution and blatant lawlessness, every bit as much as our lap dog Republican Congress has enabled that through the same cowardice.

Yes, really

– to the people of Venezuela for losing their country to Donald Trump. He’s made it clear that he admires and wants to be like Vladimir Putin, invading a sovereign nation, bombing facilities and killing its citizens. Trump has gone even farther by kidnapping its leader. Now he’s just like Putin. Maybe worse.

NOTE: Don’t be distracted. This invasion and kidnapping have nothing to do with drugs, democracy, elections or how bad or how illegitimate is Maduro as president of Venezuela. It is about the massive reserves of oil beneath that country and what that’s worth to Trump. That’s why we’ll “run the country.” Plus it’s a first step toward domination of all of South America and maybe Greenland, because Trump desperately needs to show what a strongman he is.

– finally, congratulations to us, for our dog being wagged relentlessly by yet another illegal Trump military distraction. But We The People will not let the Epstein scandal go away and Trump will get what he is due.

You know that this congratulatory list could be very long and you understand the sarcasm. You get that we cannot – we must not – tolerate more of this, which means that you and I must take action because our dire circumstances have become worse. Whatever you and I are doing, it isn’t enough. This is a great and lasting task before us. But, what to do? Try this to jump start your engine:

  • I can’t vouch for the claimed connection to anyone named Van Gogh, but the message is clear and compelling. There is a blank page before us waiting for what’s next in our story of democracy and it is our honor to write that story.

I repeat: Whatever you and I are doing, it isn’t enough. But we can do “things” and keep on doing “things”.

Many, many thanks to all who step up, do “things” and carry a load for the sake of all of us.

  • Goes fast, doesn’t it?

    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!), because 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 or Barnes & Noble 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. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

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