Behavior

What Will Happen – Part 1 of 2


POST 1120

Preface

This is Part 1 of 2 of what you can expect in the second Trump presidency. Some of what follows is snark or satire. Most is not.

Expect Part 2 on Wednesday.

Healthcare

Bobby Kennedy will be in charge of healthcare – your healthcare. He doesn’t like vaccines, so count on our not being prepared for the next pandemic and for there to be a massive number of preventable deaths. And count on ever increasing diagnoses of measles, polio, tetanus, smallpox and more in our little ones because, again, Kennedy doesn’t like vaccines.

Expect an ongoing idiocy from Kennedy of quack practices and assaults on science, health and sanity. Expect an undermining of the USDA, compromising the safety of the meat you eat including Trump’s Big Macs. Expect, too, an attack on the FDA, compromising the safety of our meds. The list of Kennedy’s undermining of our national health and safety will be very long and galactically stupid, as he does as Trump instructs, “whatever the hell he wants.”

The Economy

Genius nut job Elon Musk will be in charge of our economy. He has pledged to cut $2 trillion from our national budget. He can’t cut our military spending or other mandatory things, which leaves only “discretionary” spending. He will cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Departments of Education and Energy and more. All programs designed for the welfare of We The People will vanish. Better start figuring out how you’ll pay for your healthcare, your meds, how your kids will get educated and more.

We’ll have cheap gas and accelerating global warming to depress and imperil our children and grandchildren. The list of the carnage Musk will create is long and terrifying, as he does, “whatever the hell he wants.” Ah, but we’ll have a balanced budget. Why should anyone care about you?

Trump will re-up his previous tax reduction gift to rich people and will expand it. He will promise great benefits to working people and some to poor people. They will be, “greater than anyone has ever seen,” but nobody but the rich and big corporations will receive enough for any benefit to be identifiable.

All economic indicators, the Dow, S & P and the rest, will plunge in value following Trump cashing out his portfolios. Same for his rich buddies who will be given advance notice. Once securities have hit rock bottom the rich will buy them up just as rich guys did following the crash in 1929. Ordinary people will be economically devastated, as jobs disappear and whatever savings they had for retirement disappears. You already know that we’ve seen this movie before and we know how it ends.

Freedom

Expect encroachment on the freedoms of any who are not White and on all women. All forms of contraception will be outlawed except the so-called rhythm method favored by the Catholic Church, Evangelicals and Christian Nationalists (who aren’t really Christian in their beliefs and actions). This method excels at systematically producing many babies, a la the Dark Ages. All forms of post impregnation medical procedures will be outlawed, with prison sentences imposed for affected women and for medical professionals who dare to treat a woman having a miscarriage. Someone will keep a tally of women who die because of these prohibitions. The numbers will seem like they are from a horror film.

Blacks, Hispanics, Jews and Muslims will be encouraged through intimidation to stay in their place and not be uppity. Or they can leave this country. KKK white hood outfits with nooses attached to the belt and torches to carry, as well as Gestapo and SS uniforms will be popular Halloween costume choices.

Women will be expected to be subservient to all males. Their roles will be limited to sex object, household servant, involvement in teaching young children and low level business positions. In no circumstance will they be allowed to have a position of any power in this perfect patriarchal America. What would you think of bringing back witch trials?

Ear worm warning: Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA will play in all elevators and all music on hold. There will be no escape.

Guns

Gun deaths will continue to mount. The rate may well increase. There will be absolutely no direct or indirect curbs to reduce gun violence, as age restrictions for purchasing firearms and accessories and limitations on those with a violent history are eliminated. Trump may wallow in finger pointing about shootings in our large cities, which, of course happen, but they are at a much lower per capita rate than in rural states, AKA The Wild West. No matter. Trump will always tell us that cities run by Democrats are  the worst.

Miscellaneous Un-American Activities

It’s logistically insanely difficult to round up 11 million or more people and deport them. There may be Gestapo raids in various Hispanic neighborhoods ripping families apart. Expect rampant cruelty that is never prosecuted.

Look for prosecutions on fantasy charges against people Trump doesn’t like. The prosecutions won’t result in anything substantive, but they will impoverish the defendants, so Trump will be able to giggle with glee about how he crushed his detractors.

Expect thousands of civil servants, the people who make the trains run on time, to be fired and replaced by Trump suck-up know-nothings.

Look for conflicts of interest and outright grift and graft on an epic level. There will be no prosecutions.

The Trump administration will end when JD Vance invokes the 25th Amendment to replace him. Then things will get worse.

Expect that to happen just into Trump’s third year, which would allow Vance to stay for two more terms, assuming that there will still be elections and such an old fashioned concept as “terms.” If we no longer have elections, the timing won’t matter.

Dos and Don’ts
Do

Stay connected to others, especially those who believe in democracy. It’s critical to your sanity.

Grieve the loss. It’s real and it hurts.

Get up and get active. Nothing restores the spirit like taking action to make things better.

Fight to Make America Not Suck. Get a red, write and blue MANS hat. I don’t know where to find those. Go all entrepreneurial with that.

If there is an election in 2026, dig in with everything you have to elect anyone who will oppose Trump and will restore our democracy. We need control of at least one house of Congress to put a brake to the Trump Train of Destruction.
.
Don’t

Don’t surrender to despair.

Don’t wallow in grief.

Don’t drop out.

Don’t succumb to “All is lost.” The fight just got much more difficult, so we must step up our efforts for truth, justice and the American Way.

And most important,

Don’t let the bastards get you down!

.
Final Note

There is nothing in this post that you didn’t already know. That is how blatantly, screamingly, obviously awful this stuff is. We have a lot of work to do.

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.

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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.

We’re Doing This To Ourselves


POST 1119

Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves.”
  • – Abraham Lincoln, 1864
  • So, too, ourselves, today, right now

In watching this train wreck election proceed in slow motion I had to admit the foul truth, that half of my fellow citizens voted against democracy. They voted for lawlessness and assault. They voted to let pregnant women bleed out and die. They voted for a huge tax increase on themselves and they voted to condone violence against fellow citizens. They voted for little lies and for massive, gobsmacking lies, for denial of science and the embrace of idiotic conspiracy theories to replace truth. And they voted to end the rule of law and to let a convicted criminal and sexual assaulter get away with his lawlessness. His sentencing for 34 counts of fraud in a couple of weeks should be quite the spectacle.

They voted in favor of gerrymandering and voter suppression, shooting protesters in the legs and for martial law. They voted for minority control of our cities, our states and our nation. They voted for willful ignorance and cruelty and for despotism. They voted for letting Putin do anything he wants to do. They voted for MAGA friend Putin to have his cyber-thugs rain down bomb threats on polling stations in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. “Hey, Russia, if you’re listening.  .  .” Big help for the cheater. Remember that Trump cheats at golf, too. And real estate and foundations and university. Everything, really.

“Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.”
  • – commonly attributed to Winston Churchill, but he never said that.
  • Sometimes Israeli Ambassador Abba Eban gets credit for some
  • variation of this statement. Had either of them
  • said this, he would have been right.
  • We are here today, having promoted the strongarming of our democracy out the door and the welcoming of fascism controlled by rich, cruel usurpers and angry citizens who feel their special place in our society is slipping away. They are allowing fascism, in part because it is now cloaked in the flag and carrying a Trump Bible. It seems we forgot to remember.
  • We tried slavery and we continue to practice various forms of discrimination and repression. Some will always cling to self-justified anger, grievance and the notion that there are those who are naturally superior to others. It is self-evident that those holding such a view see themselves as the superior ones. When will we once again choose to do the right thing?
  • Our main challenges now are to figure out how to live to fight another day and something else equally daunting. It is figuring out how to repair the gaping rifts that caused our national and individual sails to luff instead of to propel us forward, resulting in driving this threat into existence. The repair is made exponentially more difficult by so many loud, hateful voices shrieking fear and hatred into our ears every day. It’s a lot like 1930s Germany and nobody speaks of the elephant in the room.
  • No Democrat is threatening violence. No Democrat is in a militia practicing to assault the Capitol Building on January 6, 2025 or is preparing to send Christmas cards with pictures of themselves brandishing an AR-15 and speaking menacingly of the blood of patriots. No Democrat is making death threats to poll workers. No Democrat went to an election rally and cheered hateful and racist slurs or chanted about death to anyone. And no Democratic leader incites anger and hatred.

Doesn’t matter any more. This MAGA leader does.

A dictator just on day one, you say? Millions believe that lie. We have elected ourselves into an open prison controlled by a dictator. Changes will come incrementally and we’ll barely notice what we have done to ourselves until we’re afraid all the time and injustice rules the land. We will no longer be the land of the free and the home of the brave, so we can replace the Star Spangled Banner with something befitting a military parade goose stepping down Pennsylvania Avenue.

“Stand back and stand by.”

And recognize that we are doing this to ourselves. All the dysfunction, the violence, the hatred and the destruction of all we have claimed to hold dear for nearly 250 years are self-inflicted wounds. Be glad that most of the brave ones who fought and many who died to protect this democracy cannot see what we are doing to the country over which they stood guard at enormous personal sacrifice.

  • We have a system that is brilliantly designed to self-correct via the ballot box. I don’t see how that self-correction can happen in a dictatorship.
  • I still believe in America. Not much has changed substantively – yet. On the other hand, I don’t have much respect for our willfully blind, the ones who refuse to see what is before them, or the willfully hateful, the ones who want to tear it all down.
  • The clock has run out. There is no more time. More donations won’t help, nor will post cards to swing states nor canvasing or another post in this space. We are left in awkward impotence.
  • The sun will still come up each day – read Simon Rosenberg’s piece – but now we will need some heretofore undiscovered wisdom and strength to find our way through the coming loss of rights and freedom in order to get back to decency and democracy. This is going to take a long time and it’s going to hurt.


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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.

Sociology Corner


POST 1118

Apply this logic to our democracy.

Think of this as both a geeky query into some weird behavior, as well as the very reason for voting and working to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. You know: like that loyalty oath to which every federal official swears.

_____________________________________

They Think That Violence Is a Sign of Strength
1. Domination

Some people hang on the words of Tucker Carlson. That in itself is worthy of a sociological study, because he is both cruel and delusional – or a liar.

He recently spoke of angry daddy (Trump) coming home to deliver discipline to a “bad little girl” via a “vigorous spanking.” So much there to unpack.

Why is Daddy angry and why is he the accumulator of rage and the dispenser of violence? What does that say about silent, powerless Mommy? And what is the message to that little girl about how she should regard men and the constraints on her entire life? Why should any daddy or any man be an accumulator of rage and dispenser of violence?

Why is she a “bad little girl?” I’m guessing that In Carlson’s view, that’s any strong woman who speaks up. Whatever thing she’s done has morphed her, changing her from an ordinary kid who may have misbehaved to the point where now she herself is something bad; an object of rejection; a reprehensible thing to be beaten into submission; something to be made acceptable to “Daddy.”

And it’s a little girl, not a little boy. Why is that? Could Tucker and his patriarchy loving followers perhaps have mommy issues?

Maybe they distrust and hate girls and women, seeing them only as play toys and as servants. Are they so insecure in their masculinity that the only way for them to feel powerful is to dominate females, perhaps with violent assaults?

Note that it isn’t just a punishment that Tucker names. It isn’t just a spanking. It is a “vigorous spanking.” Does Tucker get off on spanking women? Does his pleasure ramp up as the beating becomes more “vigorous?”

Dominance.

Hey Tucker: dominance and violence driven by your neuroses and self-loathing aren’t signs of strength. They’re sure signs of your weakness and fear.

2. Promises of Attacks and Cruelty

Trump is full of sick, unconstitutional threats, like: A. siccing our military on peaceful demonstrators and hoping to shoot them in the legs; B. promising to prosecute his political opponents, most notably Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi, then all Democrats, and; C. promising to herd undocumented people into concentration camps and deport them. Then he’d round up legal non-citizens, then naturalized citizens.  To be fair, he’ll only do this to Hispanics and anyone with dark skin who might have ancestry in a “shit hole country.” He never promises to deport Europeans.

It’s fascinating to see Trump as he rails in full insecure panic mode. It is solely to assuage Trump’s bruised, pitiable ego.

Go all sociological on that.

3. Verbal Violence

From the Borowitz Report:

At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2023 .  .  .  [Don, Jr.] roasted Sen. John Fetterman, who was recovering from a series of health problems. “Pennsylvania managed to elect a vegetable .  .  . ”

Trump publicly ridiculed a disabled reporter. At these and all of his public events, the residents of Trump World rejoice in his cruelty. What’s that collective cruelty about?

Trump spent $80,000 for the entire back page of the New York Times demanding that the Central Park 5 be executed, this after DNA evidence had conclusively shown them to be innocent. HE WANTED TO KILL FIVE INNOCENT MEN!

His insanity is constant and goes back decades. So, roll up your sociological shirtsleeves and dig into that.

4. Physical Violence

There are the Proud Boys, the 3 Percenters, the Rambo pretender non-militias and the lone wolves. We know about the plot to kidnap and kill the Governor of Michigan. We know about the radicals’ monument to anti-Americanism, the January 6 insurrection. We know about all its felonious participants. We have perpetrators of that lawlessness still proudly proclaiming that they are the true patriotic ones (see the pic below) and Trump telling us it was a peaceful love fest. I’m guessing that slain Officer Brian Sicknick’s parents see that event differently.

And these violent ones are promising far worse this coming January 6.

The point is that we have a great many who demonstrate their passion and their power through their cruelty, violence and domination of others. They think their violence is a sign of strength. I say it’s a sign that they are weak and just don’t have what it takes to face challenges without threatening others with a gun.

Let’s call them what they are: psychopaths, just like Hitler’s Gestapo and SS.

5. Attitude

Consider this “poop monument” on the National Mall. Yes, it’s a real shrine. No, it isn’t real poop.

Click me for the crappy story.

This is from the plaque on the pedestal below the desk:

“This memorial honors the brave men and women who broke into the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 to loot, urinate and defecate throughout those hallowed halls in order to overturn an election. President Trump celebrates these heroes of January 6th as ‘unbelievable patriots’ and ‘warriors.’ This monument stands as a testament to their daring sacrifice and lasting legacy.”

Go ahead: sociologize that pile of crap.

While you’re at it, give a head scratch to MAGA high level elected officials encouraging and celebrating lawlessness, vandalism and treason. Sociologize me that, too.

And Lest We Forget .  .  .

.  .  .  how menacingly bad Trump is, how dangerous he is for you and for our country, watch Robert Reich’s list of the 10 Worst Things About the Trump Presidency. Then imagine how destructive another Trump Presidency/Fuhrer-ship would be. The sociological question for all of this is:

Why would anyone want this?
.

Then imagine the cataclysm of JD Vance in the White House, which will happen if Trump wins the election.

Same question: Why would anyone want this?

Partial answers:

  1. Because some insanely rich people would benefit greatly from it.
  2. Because millions feel disrespected and abandoned by leaders and their flashing of middle fingers at those leaders feels good to them.
Obeying In Advance – a Political Tragedy*

Many thanks to JN for passing along this pic. Click for a larger view.

Underneath its name in the Washington Post’s masthead stands its declaration “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” The implication is that this stalwart of democracy newspaper shines light where light is needed and stands firm for democracy.

That brave notion was speared in the heart when the Post refused to endorse for president, although they have endorsed in every election since 1976. They effectively are standing aside to let dark authoritarian Trump and the fascists take over and smash the First Amendment and our democracy. The light dims and darkness grows, as Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, chickens out and obeys Fuhrer Trump even before being ordered to do so.

Here’s Ann Telneas’ editorial cartoon responding to the Post’s cowardice. Its title is “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”

Great kudos to Telneas for speaking truth to power.

Not to be outdone, the Los Angeles Times chickened out in the same way. So have a bunch of large company CEOs. Cowards all, obeying in advance.

On The Media

From Mother Jones, November 1:

Even this morning, alongside coverage of Trump’s violent remarks [about putting Liz Cheney before a firing squad], the New York Times ran an opinion piece headlined “Can we please mute the president for a few more days [responding to his “garbage” gaffe]?”

Trump’s menacing language—a constant for almost a decade—rarely draws the notice that Garbage-gate has received. To call this imbalance typical both-sidesism fails to adequately convey the failures of the media in 2024.

Quote For the Vote
  • . . .  . .“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
  • – Abolitionist Wendell Philips. Often attributed to Thomas Jefferson,
  • who certainly believed that, as did others of his era.
Must Watch

John McCain’s gracious and patriotic concession speech of 2008. Would that we could look forward to something similar this week.

Lend a Hand

HERE

Click me – and read Note #5 below

______________________________________________

* Read On Tyranny by Prof. Timothy Snyder for a full understanding of the consequences of obeying in advance.

There’s also a graphic version available.

Many thanks to MG for this quotation from Scotty Reston.

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: IT’S THE VOTES!
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:
.

NOTE: Many states allow same day voter registration and voting!

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registerilled-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • 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, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep 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.

Where Have They Been?


POST 1117

From NBC, October 29 (trimmed for brevity):

.  .  .  Nikki Haley criticized Trump world on Tuesday for being “overly masculine with this bromance thing” after former President Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

On Fox News on Tuesday, Haley addressed a comedian’s racist jokes about Puerto Rico and Latinos, a moment that has roiled the Trump campaign and was condemned by multiple Republicans, including members of Congress.

“This is not a time to have anyone criticize Puerto Rico or Latinos,” Haley said, instead calling for discipline around the campaign. “This is not a time for them to get overly masculine with this bromance thing that they have.” [Mascuilinity now means hatred and cruelty?]

Haley noted other language used throughout the rally, as well as in Republican ads and messaging, that she called destructive to drawing women into the fold on Election Day.

She said, “destructive to drawing women into the fold.”

She said, “That is not the way to win women. That is not the way to win people who are concerned about Trump’s style.”

Those are her concerns? She’s not concerned about the racism and the misogynist cruelty?

Haley failed miserably because her sole focus is on winning the election. She didn’t show even a whiff of concern for decency. Plus, this election isn’t about Trump’s style. It’s about his pathological substance.

HALEY COMPLETELY FAILS TO ADDRESS HOW MISERABLY TRUMP WORLD BEHAVES AND ITS COMPLETE LACK OF DECENCY. HALEY DISCARDED ALL CLARITY ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG. WHATEVER SPINE SHE ONCE MIGHT HAVE HAD HAS MELTED AWAY, ALONG WITH ANY SENSE OF MORALITY.

Nikki Haley’s values are upside down. Were the opportunity to present itself, I would vote for a golden retriever over Haley, this for its fidelity and for Haley’s lack of it.

Many Republicans – hundreds of them – have recovered their senses and are speaking out against Trump. Haley isn’t one of them. They are pledging to vote for Harris. So glad they’re standing up for what is right and good and patriotic.

But in the face of the constant outpouring of Trump and MAGA cruelty, vicious lies and attacks on our Constitution,

Where have they been for the last nine years?
.

Come to think of it, where has George W. Bush’s courage been? Wasn’t he the swagger president, the “You’re either with us or against us” tough guy? Where’s his repudiation of Trump and MAGA and where is his endorsement of Harris? Where is Mitt Romney’s? Or John Boehner’s or Paul Ryan’s? Where are the quiet ones who sometimes appeared to be “traditional Republicans,” like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski?

Each of them and more took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Why aren’t they standing up and fighting against this obvious threat to our Constitution?

Key Quote For This Election
.
“Bad People get elected when good people don’t vote.”  – Sen. Cory Booker
.

We know the difference between right and wrong and between good and evil and we vote accordingly. Good on you for standing strong and being a voter.

Your family, friends and neighbors may need your encouragement to vote. Please speak out. Urge them to vote. Don’t tell them who to vote for because that kind of message is almost never welcome. Just urge them to vote.

It’s time for all of us to take a stand.

Many thanks to MG for this quotation from Scotty Reston.

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:
.

NOTE: Many states allow same day voter registration and voting!

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registerilled-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • 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, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them 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.

Five


POST 1116

Did you already vote? Great! And you’re not done protecting our rights, our freedoms and our democracy.

You know quite well that MAGA and the acquiescent, cowardly Republicans stand for hatred, cruelty, violence and un-American values and norms. They cannot make themselves bigger so they use every hateful method to make everyone else smaller and poorer in every way. Here’s the most recent evidence of their crimes against America and Americans.

The Trump Nazi Bund rally at Madison Square Garden last Sunday was a goose stepping jamboree, a festival of hatred and cruelty. From Heather Cox Richardson:

The hateful performances of the early participants set the tone for the rally. Early on, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by Kill Tony, delivered a steamingly racist set. He said, for example: “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” He went on: “And these Latinos, they love making babies too. Just know that. They do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country.” Hinchcliffe also talked about Black people carving watermelons instead of pumpkins.*

You may recall that Trump made himself the anti-hero for the people of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria by throwing rolls of paper towels to people devastated by that storm. You may also recall that Puerto Rico is one of the Trump-named “shithole countries.” Actually, Puerto Ricans are Americans, but people like Trump, Vance and that swamp creature comedian don’t like to acknowledge that.

That kind of thing is why you voted against the MAGA creeps.

As my friend, futurist David Houle recalled, in the 60s the establishment types hated protesters, anti-war types – anything that wasn’t locked down establishment. They wore their certainty of their being the true Americans on their sleeves and also wore it on their pick up trucks and cars with signs reading, “America: Love it or Leave it.”

Writes Houle,

The “conservative candidate,”  Donald Trump, has been trashing America.  He most recently called America a “garbage can of a country.”  I don’t think that any presidential candidate in U.S. history has ever spoken so negatively about this wonderful democracy.

What?!  If you, Mr. Trump, do not love America or want America to once again become a “shining city on a hill;”

If [you] Donald Trump [don’t] like America, [you] can leave it! Love it or leave it, Donald.

Remember that Trump has been painting America in dystopian terms since 2017.

It’s time we recognized that Trump does not love America and he doesn’t care a bit about the disaster he will leave behind him. He wants to change nearly everything about America and all for the worse for our rights, our freedom and our democracy. So, per my friend David’s observation, it’s time for Trump to leave.

AND NONE OF THAT IS THE POINT!!

.

As I explained in this post, the point is that Trump is just the marionette, the puppet designed to distract us from what the Heritage Foundation fascists are doing. What they really want is to put Vance in the White House so he can be their tool boy to destroy our democracy. Their plan is to get Trump into the White House and then invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him and put Vance at the Resolute Desk to enact all of the democracy destroying carnage of Project 2025!

Trump is doing everything he can to keep his loyal followers juiced up, mindlessly angry, full of certainty and hatred. He’s doing nothing to attract additional supporters. That’s a perfect recipe for losing the election so he can attack his popular and Electoral College losses by inciting violence.

I don’t have a magic formula, a witch’s cauldron of potion to cure the extremists. What I’m sure of is that Trump must not be allowed anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and that starts with his overwhelming loss at the polls. The good guy legal eagles will have to figure out how to stop his valueless lawsuits. Our law enforcement people will have to figure out how to deal with the violence and the phony electors. All of that is above my pay grade. But crushing MAGA in this election is right on our level.

So, you voted. Did you think Trump and MAGA extremists would go away because you voted in this free and fair election? Nope.

This win for our rights, our freedom and our democracy needs to be an overwhelming victory for Harris-Walz and a crushing defeat for Heritage Foundation fascism. That’s why you aren’t done taking action.

Look at the countdown clock below. Five days is all we have to create the tidal wave victory for the America we believe in.

Just five days to stiff arm fascism.

Five days to protect the future for our children and grandchildren.

Just five days to block politicians from OB/GYN exam rooms.

Just five days to ensure we have leaders who will take steps to stem the hemorrhaging from our gun violence.

Just five days to restore decency to our government and our nation.

We have just five days to banish the haters from our politics.

We have just five days to encourage people to vote, using our door knocking, postcards, phone calls and more.
.

“Hard work is good work.” There are lots of options for you,

Many of which are listed here

There are Post Cards to Swing States – Holland & Muskegon MI

You can knock on Doors in Wisconsin

Rockin’ Zoom Phone Bank – Indivisible Illinois

Or this

Or this

And of course there is this potpourri of opportunities to make a difference.

This stuff is easy to find and easy to do, so find something. The key: TAKE ACTION TODAY!

Tell people to vote like their life depends on it.

Because it does.

___________________________________________

* In case you are a Trump apologist or Trump explainer/whisperer, consider this.

Eleven years ago a US Navy submarine surfaced right into a Japanese fishing boat. The fishing boat sank and nine people were killed. The submarine captain with an otherwise fine record, was officially disciplined and had to resign from the Navy. Here’s why.

The leader is responsible for everything – that’s everything – that happens on his/her boat, whether it’s during the captain’s watch or not. It’s the captain’s job to make certain that all involved are properly trained, that they know their jobs and that they execute them properly. No excuses.

And so it is in the Trump campaign. Trump is responsible for the hiring, training and execution of his election team. Someone on his election campaign invited that crude “comedian” to speak, so Trump is responsible for his crude, cruel words. Trump can dance all he wants, but Trump is responsible for that hurtful meanness. He can try to distance himself from that, he can apologize – no matter. He’s accountable.

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registerilled-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • 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, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them 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.

A-Changin’


POST 1115

On the Sunday before last the New York Times published letters from readers that were composed in lyrical form rather than in prose. One was to the tune of the 60s Bob Dylan song, The Times They Are A-Changin’. Here’s it’s opening:

Come liars, deniers who call it a hoax

And convince us these fires are nothin’ but jokes

When the air that you’re breathing’s like three packs of smokes

Even Fox might admit they were fakin’

Better get a good gas mask if ya don’t wanna choke

‘Cause the climate is a-changin’

Having been there in the 60s and been a finalist in Lyndon Johnson’s contest to win an all expense paid trip to Vietnam, I was sensitive to Dylan’s words in his song. That tide of change led to the 1968 anti-war demonstrations in Grant Park that turned into a battle that the Kerner Commission labeled a “police riot.” I remember Hizzoner the Mayor, Richard J. Daley, defending the police, saying, “The police are not here to create disorder. They are here to preserve disorder.” He certainly was a man of insightful and inspiring words.

What comes to me now is that the 60s demand for change was about our attempts to move away from repressive government hiding behind the label “conservative.” It seemed designed solely to prevent any change that might affect the power of those in charge, regardless of the desires of We The People. Meanwhile, people were getting killed.

Good thing there is no global warming leading to this flooding in New Mexico. Oh wait – there is.

Here we are today with new power grabbers stripping power from us using their chicanery, demanding that their minority be in charge of the rest of us. They’re fighting any change with their unlawful, unconstitutional schemes to diminish our power.

They’re denying climate warming, for example, even as people throughout our southeast are suffering, some dying, from yet another “storm of the century” and there are lakes, oddly enough, flooding parts of the Sahara Desert and New Mexico. Hence, the creative use of Dylan’s form and the updated meaning above.

These pretenders are trying to claw their way into absolute power using lies, propaganda and promises – threats, really – of unconstitutional cruelty. They are fighting change for the better solely to snatch away yet more power for themselves at the expense of We The People. Meanwhile, people are getting killed. It’s an eerily familiar story.

The times are a-changing because we have made a lethal mess and change is an existential imperative. Ask your children and grandchildren how they’re feeling about their future, about the dire threat of global warming and the threats coming from citizen mob incitement and violent people with guns. Ask them how they’re feeling about people, especially politicians, who deny reality.

Today’s young are the ones who have had to do active shooter drills in schools. They’re the ones dealing with our insurmountable housing reality and the crazy cost to marry and have children, about all the impossible challenges that have put them in despair. Essentially, they are asking,

“What American dream?”
.

So, they and we want the times to be a-changin’. We don’t want the chaos, the instability and the threats of being dominated by people who want to “terminate” our Constitution. We don’t want our rights to be stolen from us and we don’t want liars to treat us like we’re stupid.

In short, the battle is the same now as it was in the 60s, as we fight the lies and repression that could get us killed. It turns out, much to the surprise of some, that people don’t like their rights and freedom trampled. People don’t like the frauds and the cruelties, like ripping babies from the arms of their mothers; like lying to victims of hurricanes so that they don’t get the aid they need and deserve; like letting pregnant women die from lack of ordinary care that would save their lives; and like encouraging Americans to attack other Americans. People don’t like their hopes and dreams to be crushed by those who care only to amass yet more power.

Change is coming because We The People won’t long tolerate repression. The cruel ones will continue to be cruel because that’s all they have. The minority will continue to manipulate the system solely for their own benefit for as long as they can. But we will reject them because they represent an America that only the haters want. We’ll banish them to the obscurity they deserve.

Our job, to paraphrase Ghandi, is to “Be the change we want to see in America.”

Not with a riot in Grant Park, but with a riot of votes before and on November 5. Then the times, they truly will be a-changin’.

Come hopers and voters who know that they stand

For something much greater than that hateful man.

When hatred and lies are all that they sell

We see what they’re doing and we’re here to tell

They better get packing or they’ll sink down to hell

‘Cus their time it is now ending.

Name Calling Accuracy

O’ those rascally generals, those former Trump Cabinet heads and Republican spine finders! They are calling Trump and Vance dangerous fascists. O’ the degrading truth of it all!

You need to go to school on this and Professor Timothy Snyder has advanced to the podium. Watch his short instructional videos in order.

 

 

.
.
Lest We Forget the Odious Felons

These are some of the crooks who want to end our democracy and rule over you with a cruel fist. Don’t let them!

Pass this along to any who are undecided or apathetic. As awful as these felons are, they’re pussycats compared to the fascist, evil, goose stepping morons whom Trump will put in power over us if he wins.
.

Tell people to

vote like their life depends on it.

Because it does!

Best Required Reading

From Steve Schmidt, October 24, “America has had many long nights in its history.” You need to know this story – read his post. Meanwhile,

There is no heaven on earth, but there is America.

It is time to believe and imagine again in America. Isn’t it? America was invented by believers, not cynics. The presence of cynics amongst the believers doesn’t diminish the believers. It simply tests the character of the undecided. There are great choices ahead. There always are. While we wait, perhaps it is worth taking stock and remembering, if but for a moment, how it feels to be a member of the luckiest group of people on earth. Americans. This is a place where anything still remains possible. Two hundred years ago at a moment of division a friend [Lafayette] visited and reminded a young nation of its unlimited future. America is a young nation with old politicians. That problem can be fixed. It should be. It’s time to start building tomorrow again in this country.

Reality Reset Quote of the Week

From Sheila Markin:

Immigrants are not the danger that Trump claims they are. Democrats are not the danger Trump says they are. Climate change is a real threat. The pandemic was a real threat. Because Trump is disconnected from reality, Trump himself is the threat from within.

Insanity Corner

In what is already one of the most expensive Senate races in American history, the Ted Cruze “Citizens United funded Super PACs” are “.  .  .  blanketing the airwaves with $34 MILLION in attack ads against Colin [Allred] (from a 10-27-24 Allred fund raiser email).

This is just some of the insanity unleashed by the John Roberts Supreme Court extremists, who contorted themselves and the Constitution to give super wealthy individuals and corporations super influence over our elections. Plus they gave inanimate, non-human, non-sentient corporations all the rights that you have.

Insane.

Best Action Today

Read this.

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registerilled-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • 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, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them 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.

You’re Being Played, But Not Like You Think


POST 1114

An Insidious Conspiracy

JD Vance is a guy who compared Trump to Hitler. He said, “I’m a Never Trump guy. I never liked him.” He said lots more that was unlikely to cause Trump to find him attractive. Still, he got the nod, so many were asking why Trump picked him to be his running mate.

Vance is where he is because of millions of dollars invested in him by Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. Now, why would these guys shell out that kind of cash to get this phony hillbilly into position to be Vice President of the United States? You know they expect to get massive pay back for their investments. Let’s back up the story a bit to see what we can find.

Let’s make the assumption that the people at the Heritage Foundation, authors of Project 2025, are smart guys. You may not like their values or their policies, you may customarily call them some unattractive names, but they aren’t stupid. They and others like them have waged a 50 year war on our liberal democracy, perhaps even going back to FDR. Their fight has been constant and it is solely about amassing astonishing piles of cash and unlimited power, even as they claim patriotic values to distract you. And we all have been distracted. They have brought us to the point where a fascist, an avowed enemy of democracy, has an even chance to regain the White House.

It’s great fun to ridicule Trump, but that’s looking in the wrong direction.

We love to attack Trump for his crudeness, his cruelty, his lack of substance, his fundamental dishonesty and his flagrant stupidity. Now we’re watching him disintegrate mentally before our eyes.

But shift your thinking from the magician’s hand that you see – that’s Trump – to the one behind his back that is tricking you. Trump is the joker that the magician, the manipulator, the Heritage Foundation, flashes before our eyes. But behind their back is the hand manipulating events that will put Vance into the Presidency. Here’s how.

Trump’s mental faculties are unraveling before our eyes and before the eyes of the world. His ability to stay on a topic has shrunken to just a few seconds of outrageous accusations and idiotic projections, leading to a verbal spaghetti of senselessness. Just imagine the fear our NATO allies feel and the excitement that world dictators are enjoying over the prospect of another 4 years of Trump.

He has refused interviews everywhere. He won’t show up at CNN, CNBC or 60 Minutes and he won’t debate his opponent. He’ll only appear with fawning supporters and even then all he can manage are short periods of cruelty, threats of violence and mental incontinence. He couldn’t even stay glued together at a friendly town hall and had to resort to playing music and swaying moronically for 39 minutes.

His campaign staff, his family, MAGA politicians and pundits all know that they have to limit his pubic exposure because every time he opens his mouth to speak he undermines his candidacy. Far more important, they all know that if he wins the election that he will be unable to execute the duties of the Office of the Presidency or even the dictates of the Heritage Foundation.

You’re being played by master magicians, but not like you think. You’re being made to think that this chaos and instability are about Trump, the joker, but he’s just the distraction. The real danger is the manipulation we don’t see, but it’s being done in plain sight.

Within months, perhaps just days of Trump taking office, the 25th Amendment will be invoked. Congress will support it and JD Vance will become President of the United States, your ruler.

Did that send a shiver up your spine? It should, because Vance is smart, cunning, an extremist and the author of the violent introduction to Project 2025. He would follow its dictates and destroy our democracy. He wants you to be crushed by fascism. You know that frighteningly well.

That is the goal of the Heritage Foundation. Vance is the traitor to democracy who will make you a serf and give oligarchs all the money and all the power. These are our morbidly rich to whom we’ve already transferred $50 trillion of our wealth thanks to trickle down economics and self-defeating tax cuts for the rich.

.
We’ve been played, all right, but not by Trump, the snake oil salesman and marionette of the ultra-rich.
.

We’ve been played by the oligarch wannabes for at least five decades and now we’re being played to put Vance, the oligarch tool boy, into the White House to do their bidding.

.
This election isn’t about Trump’s insanity. It’s about whether we will crush our own democracy through our willful blindness to what is before our eyes.
.

Vance is actually worse than you already think. Have a look at this memo from the guys who ran Tim Ryan’s Senate campaign against Vance. They looked the beast in the eyes and they know what they saw. This guy is smooth, slick and dishonest. And no, he doesn’t think Trump lost the 2020 election. Or at least that’s the story he changed to after being named Trump’s running mate and shifting from being a Never Trumper to being a spineless Trump suck up.

We are powerless to remove Vance from the ticket, so our only hope to protect our rights, our freedom and our democracy is to defeat Trump, which would bar the White House door to Vance. We have to defeat the Republicans running for other offices, too. Our most sacred right,

VOTING

.

is our only weapon to ensure that there will be elections in 2026 and 2028. This is truly a use-it-or-lose-it moment.

We must crush the plan of the Heritage Foundation or it will crush us. So,

If you don’t want a President Vance;

If you don’t want democracy to end and be replaced by oligarchs counting the money they’ve taken from you and exploiting and abusing you;

If you’re tired of being played for a fool;

.  .  .  then you know what we must do. We must defeat the forces of evil which otherwise will subjugate us. They are fascists. They are despotic. They care nothing for your freedom except to take it away from you. They have been working all these long decades to defeat you and end everything you hold dear.

Your vote is critical, but it isn’t enough. You must get people to the polls. You have to motivate voters in red states and blue states and purple states to get off their Barcaloungers and show up and vote.

Put out your lawn sign, make calls to swing states, write postcards to swing state voters and talk to people, even your crazy Uncle Bob. Offer to drive people to the polls. Even staunch Republicans and MAGAs want their rights and their freedom and they won’t have either if Vance is behind the Resolute desk for 4 years. None of us will have the America we believe in if the Heritage Foundation owns it.

It’s time to redouble our efforts to send all Republicans packing – especially Vance and the other extremists – before they can reduce us to serfdom in their fascist state.

Best Guess

Trump is doing everything he can to lose this election by insulting as many people as possible, by advocating policies that will hurt as many people as possible, by flagrantly demonstrating his mental deterioration, by avoiding attracting as few new voters as possible and telling people that after this election they won’t have to vote.

Best guess: He isn’t trying to win in the old fashioned way because he can’t. He wants to spark a civil war and violently take over the country.

They’re Trying To Buy It Outright

From Mother Jones, October 21:

[Elon] Musk is saying he will give out a million dollars a day—every day until the election—to voters in swing states who sign a petition from his pro-Trump political action committee (and no, I will not link to it). He was also pledging to pay $100 to registered Pennsylvania voters who sign his petition through today.

Is that okay with you? I don’t think it’s okay with the Justice Department.

Tell people to vote like their life depends on it.

Because it does.

 

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registerilled-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • 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, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them 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.

What We Wish We Had Heard . . .


POST 1112

 .  .  .  in the Bret Baier Interview
Harris

Tell me, Bret: When you interview Donald Trump do you interrupt him? Do you talk over him? I bet not, because if you did he’d crush you like a bug.

Baier

Well, no, not really.

Harris

Then don’t interrupt or talk over me.

And just to make sure you don’t, if you do it again I will invite you to imagine me telling your mother what you’re doing. I’m sorry she’s passed, because that strong woman would know just what to do with you and you wouldn’t like it. So would the nuns at your high school alma mater, Marist School. They would know what to do with you. They’re strong women, too.

So, what do you say, Bret – are you going to be polite and respectful in this interview?

Baier

Uh  .  .  .  uh, okay.

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registerilled-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • 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, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them 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.

Voter Fraud – and Others


POST 1111

One More Look At Our Terrible Voter Fraud Problem

You’ve heard the statistics about our voter fraud problem, like that it’s 0.00001% of votes cast, clearly not enough to sway even the election of a candidate for the mosquito abatement board, much less a megalomaniac fraud and sexual assaulter to the presidency. Nevertheless, we must have some fun with the numbers from the off-the-right-edge-of-the-continuum Heritage Foundation because they are Trump suck-up misleaders.

The Brookings Institution did that in a paper entitled Widespread election fraud claims by Republicans don’t match the evidence. Note that their analysis has nothing to do with how anyone feels or their confirmation bias or their delight in demonizing. They’re just the facts, ma’am.

Brookings reports,

[The Heritage Foundation finds] that there have been 1,465 proven cases of election fraud — 1,264 of these resulted in criminal prosecutions and the remainder resulted in civil prosecutions, diversion programs, judicial findings, or official findings.

These may sound like big numbers, however, they must be examined in context. The findings encompass more than a decade of data during which, nationally, hundreds of millions of votes have been cast. For instance, in Texas, Heritage found 103 cases of confirmed election fraud. However, those 103 ranged from 2005 to 2022 during which time over 107 million ballots were cast. There were 11 million ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election alone. The fraud in Texas amounted to 0.000096% of all ballots cast — hardly evidence of a fundamentally corrupt system.

Need more?

in Arizona, where President Biden won by a mere 10,457 votes in 2020, Heritage documents just four cases of fraudulent voting in the general election. Furthermore, while former Republican gubernatorial candidate and 2024 Senate candidate Kari Lake falsely claimed widespread fraud following her loss in 2022, there have been zero reported cases from that year thus far. To put these cases (or lack thereof) in perspective, Arizonans cast over 6 million votes in the 2020 and 2022 general elections. [That’s fraud  of 0.0% of votes cast.]

Other swing states have also recorded negligible numbers of election fraud. In Georgia, Heritage has reported no cases of fraud in the 2020 or 2022 general elections, in which nearly nine million votes were cast. [That, too, is 0.0% of votes cast.]

So, now we’re all convinced that there is no voter fraud problem, right?

So, what’s going on here? Nothing. Confirmed conspiracy theorists never take no for an answer, so they will certainly insist that there was massive fraud or that prosecutors were bought off.

Mmm, that right, Kemosabe. They will say that. And they will be wrong.

We have only one voter fraud problem and it’s the fraud that attacks voting rights, like:

  1. gerrymandering
  2. kicking eligible voters off voting rolls for specious and discriminatory reasons, especially when it’s done just before an election so there is no time to appeal
  3. limiting access to voting, like closing polling places to make it extremely difficult to vote and eliminating drop boxes for mail-in ballots
  4. requiring voter ID that is difficult for a targeted population to secure

Click here for a more extensive list of Constitution stomping, rights killing manipulation by .  .  .  guess who?

Note especially that even before mail-in and absentee ballots began to be filled out this year and with zero evidence for their claims, Trump and his entire entourage and his parroting millions were already claiming voting fraud. So, 1. Are they clairvoyant? or, 2. Are they frauds? You choose.

From The “Ya Gotta Read This” Department
First

Perhaps you’ve heard that right wing extremists, including our twice impeached, four times indicted, 34 counts convicted felon and adjudicated sexual assaulter former president, Donald Trump, have used our hurricane disasters to demonize FEMA, saying they don’t have enough money for disaster relief because they gave away money to undocumented immigrants (they prefer to call them “illegals”). That’s complete  .  .  .  how is it said? .  .  .  you know. See this and this.

These lies are just a current attack on our institutions designed to make the easily manipulated distrustful of government. It’s so dumb that even “no stranger to airhead conspiracy stupid stuff” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) smacked down the no FEMA money idiocy.

Now the rabid right has told hurricane and tornado victims that FEMA is coming to seize their land and worse. That’s led to armed militias – actually, vigilantes – roaming western North Carolina hunting FEMA people. That has caused relief workers to pull back, interfering with relief getting to hurricane victims. Again, it’s just your presidential candidate doing what he can to stoke violence and undermine our trust in ourselves.

Here’s more on hurricanes from CNN:

Last week, [Rep. Marjorie Taylor] Greene, without specifying who “they” is, posted, “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

She offers quack patent applications from a hundred years ago to prove her airhead point.

Most important is that you’ve heard this kind of idiocy many times from those who were the kids who flung spitballs from the back of their science and civics classes. The problem now is that such inanities get forwarded millions of times until some people believe it, putting themselves and others at risk through their denial of reality and further eroding our trust in our institutions.

The scariest part of this latest MTG lunacy is that citizens of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District keep sending her and her AR-15 to Congress. What do you suppose is the key contaminant in their drinking water?

Right: it’s fraud.

Second

Read Prof. Timothy Snyder’s new post, From the Storm to the Stormtroopers. The Fascist Logic of Climate Lying.

Third

Are you a Boomer? If so, you’re a child of the Greatest Generation. Read Lessons From My Father. Then say a quiet – perhaps even sacred – thank you.

Bang Bang

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We have 48 dead kids already this year, hundreds wounded and ten of thousands traumatized for life. And all of us are living with the threat of a grotesquely distorted Second Amendment hanging over our heads. Watch for a very personal account of that this Sunday.

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registerilled-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


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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 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, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

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    JA


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

Endorsements


POST 1110

From a rally for Tammy Baldwin

Jax Pix

Here are some of my pics.

President

Kamala Harris (queue the forehead slaps), because we want our President to be a person who has neither dementia nor a mania to be der fuhrer. We want her to be focused on We The People.

Senate

Arizona – Reuben Gallego – Good, solid, proven congressman. Plus, he isn’t election denier, pants-on-fire Kari Lake.

California – Adam Schiff – Super smart January 6 Committee member and impeachment prosecutor. His Republican opponent, Steve Garvey, was a terrific baseball player. He should have stuck to that, because if elected he would be another Trump mini-me suck up, MAGA extremist. Plus, he sounded like a doofus in their debate.

Florida – Debbie Mucarsel-Powell – She’s good and she has going for her that she isn’t spineless, elitist, arrogant, dangerous Rick Scott, co-sponsor of a national abortion ban bill and too chicken to face Mucarsel-Powell in a debate.

Maryland – Angela Alsobrooks – Her opponent, Larry Hogan, isn’t awful like most Republicans. But he’s unacceptable because he’s a Republican, which means he would be an obstruction to anything Harris will want to do for We The People.

Michigan – Elissa Slotkin – She’s a seriously smart, solid woman, proven in Congress. She’s a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst (think: Jack Ryan) and Department of Defense official. Unlike Trump, she has a security clearance.

Missouri – Lucas Kunze – Vote for Kunze because he isn’t Josh Hawley. That alone should be enough to vote for him. He isn’t reprehensible –  Hawley is – and he never fist pumped insurrectionists.

Montana – Jon Tester – One of the best. Super solid and sensible guy. We need him and many others to be voices for We The People and to restore sanity in Congress.

Ohio – Sherrod Brown – Super guy. Hard working, sensible and loyal as the sunrise.

Nevada – Jacky Rosen – She’s been tested and has the cred to attract bipartisan support for important legislation. Plus, her opponent, carpetbagger Sam Brown from Texas, is just another MAGA doomer and blamer without a single constructive idea or the spine to stand up to the extremists.

Pennsylvania – Bob Casey – Sensible, non-histrionic patriot. Calm voice of reason. You remember reason, right?

Texas – Colin Allred – First, you should vote even for a potted plant over Ted Cruz, who is the worst, most hated senator not named Josh Hawley. Second, Allred is first rate – smart and loyal. Plus he’ll have the brightest smile and the best teeth in the Senate.

Wisconsin – Tammy Baldwin – She’s really smart, capable and tested. She won’t be stopped when it’s hard to do what needs to be done. Wisconsinites deserve her.

West Virginia – Glenn Elliott – Because the Republican candidate will sell out those poor people – yet again.

Issues Resources

Check with March For Our Lives for recommendations of candidates who will promote gun safety.

Check with any women’s rights organization for who to vote for if you care about girls, women, your sister, your mom, your daughter, the people on your street or the people on any street, and the rights of all of us.

Check for party affiliation, because Republicans will suck up to Trump and the insane radicals, keeping your children at mortal risk just for just going to school. They will curtail the rights of everyone. Vote for Democrats. Not because only Democrats have good ideas, but because they are a legitimate party with actual, thoughtful policies and a clear view to making the lives of We The People (that’s you and me) better. They’re beholden only to us and to the Constitution, not to a cult subservient to a demonic dictator wannabe. Plus, they believe in democracy and the rule of law, unlike the Republicans who want to “terminate the Constitution.”

We’ll deal with House races and some state races in another post.

Same Old Mendacity

You already know that if Trump’s mouth is moving that he’s either eating a Big Mac or lying. No news there. And you already know that idiot boy genius Elon Musk is just as lie-ful. But did you know that in his country of origin, South Africa, that his name in Afrikaans means “idiot boy genius”?

To be clear, I am not Musk’s interpreter so I cannot make sense for you of any of the idiot things he says. I don’t know if he actually believes the idiocy that Democrats are recruiting undocumented people to vote or if he believes that Democrats can control the weather. Okay, that was loony MTG who said that. See my post this coming Wednesday.

Musk promotes the Trumpy lie that we have a massive voter fraud problem. How might he have adopted that idiot notion?

In the 2016 election there were only 30 cases of claimed voter fraud nationally that were referred for prosecution, or just 0.00001 percent of all votes cast. They didn’t all result in guilty verdicts, so the actual incidence of voter fraud was actually lower. O’ those pesky facts. They point menacingly at Republican lies about elections.

Musk is prone to saying lots of idiotic things. I really don’t care about that. I do care that he has a huge platform to spread them and that he “re-posted [a deepfake of Vice President Kamala Harris] that racked up a staggering 1.2 billion views.”

So, he isn’t just an idiot boy genius. He is a very dangerous idiot boy genius whom I would be ignoring were he not in a position to influence so many uninformed or low propensity voters with his lies.

Respect yourself: Don’t buy a Tesla.

From The “Ya Gotta Read This” Department

My pal Ed Gurowitz offers his insights periodically and you must read this post. He reports on attending a Tim Walz rally in Reno NV and manages to deliver both the content and the feel of what he experienced. His description vividly captures the stark differences in the versions of our future that we’re being offered by the two very different presidential candidates.

This is a Don’t Miss piece. Indeed, it’s something valuable to pass along to those you know who are otherwise likely to skip this election. And tell them to read the t-shirt to the right.

Vote to keep this delusional out of the Oval Office.

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registerilled-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • 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, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them 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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