Democracy

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.

According to DHS’s own report, less than 14% of the people they’ve rounded up were accused 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 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.
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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
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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.

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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.

Apt Comparison


POST 1256

Moderation?

As early as 2017, the first year of Trump’s first administration, I made comparisons of Trump to Hitler. A few others did so, too, but the voices of moderation and reason railed against such observations, calling any comparison to Hitler hyperbolic, unfair, overblown and more. It was, they said, way too early for such over-the-top accusations. But the reality of Trump’s desire for fascism was in our faces even then. The issue was our being willing to see what was plainly there. That’s what I was calling out.

Now that Trump’s Gestapo is murdering Americans, should we still be moderate in our descriptions?

Now that journalists are being indicted for reporting the truth that Trump doesn’t want you to see, should we still be moderate in our descriptions?

Now that tens of millions of Americans are being denied food and medical care, as are millions in devastated regions of the globe, causing massive numbers of deaths, is it still time to be moderate about calling a spade a spade?

I warned about the hatred in America that can metastasize into murder, comparing it to the Holocaust in a post in 2020. There is nothing moderate about what is happening now, including DHS moving to create massive koncentration kamps – human warehouses – across our country.

Brown and Black people, citizens, legal residents, law abiding people – it doesn’t matter –  are being disappeared at the direction of Trump’s Adolph Eichmann, his toy Nazi, Stephen Miller. Prisoners are being denied food and medical care. Anyone not speaking the fatherland tongue is in trouble. Actually, any non-White person or non-Christian person is somewhere in line for persecution. We’ve seen this movie over and over. The ending is beyond horrid and it’s always the same.

Don’t even think that’s not so because Miller is Jewish by birth. He is as full of demonic hatred as anyone you’ve ever heard of. So, I ask, how do those voices of moderation from 2017 sound now?

To anyone who thinks they still sound reasonable I suggest that they go to Minneapolis, pick up a protest sign and stand a watch at 26th Street West and Nicollet Avenue. That’s where Alex Pretti, helpless, with his face pressed into the snow and ice and the rough sidewalk, was gunned down by Trump’s ICE agents. For those showing up today, fascist descriptors may begin to seem reasonable and accurate.

First, watch the video to the right – again. There is no moderation there. There’s only murder legalized by Trump.

Still skeptical about Nazi/fascist comparisons? Watch this short commentary by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).

The Great Brain Report: True Trump Quote of the Week

“I don’t know why the federal government doesn’t manage elections.”

It’s true. Trump really doesn’t know. He could look it up in the Constitution, Article I, Section 4, or have a flunky look it up and make a comic book presentation for him, but he’d ignore even that. In fact, he doesn’t want to know. He hasn’t a bit of curiosity and he doesn’t see an immediate profit to himself for making the effort to know, Plus, he hasn’t the ability to learn.

Oops! Wrong brain

In the damaged Trump brain there are only two possible outcomes of any election. Either he gets what he wants or he declares that the other side cheated and demands to be named the winner. He knows that there’s nothing lower than a loser, so when he doesn’t get his way, he goes psycho. It’s a brain issue. Part nature, partly distorted by nurture. The Oval Office is a terrible place for an abnormal brain.

To see the actual way Trump got his brain, watch this short clip from the 1931 film classic, Frankenstein.

Trump’s loser phobia psychosis has real world impact. Here’s part of a report from Heather Cox Richardson’s post of February 3 and note the obvious insanity.

[Trump] said to Bongino: “These people were brought to our country to vote, and they vote illegally, and the, you know, amazing that the Republicans aren’t tougher on it. The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over, we should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, 15 places*.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that are so crooked and the county votes, we have states that I won that show I didn’t win. Now you going to see something in Georgia where they were able to get with a court order, the ballots? You’re going to see some interesting things come in. But, you know, like the 2020 election. I won that election by so much.”**

Fighting that anti-American, anti-Constitution, illegal vote stealing mania is job #1 for us, because if we don’t stop his theft of states rights and his destruction of the Constitution, it won’t matter how thoroughly he’s crushed in a real world vote count. He’ll just lie and say he won and his Reichsleiter (top Nazi leaders) and Gestapo thugs will make that stick.
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Statistic of the Week

Got a sister, daughter, mother or female friend age 15 – 44? There’s a 40% likelihood they want to leave the U.S. permanently. That desire correlates perfectly to loss of faith in America’s institutions over the past 10 years.

  • Gasp! That’s the same time frame – 10 years – as Trump’s destructive influence on America!
  • Coincidence? I don’t think so. Neither do 40% of America’s younger women.
X Post of the Week

We are facing annihilation of our democracy, so splash some cold water on your face and read Frank Levy’s wake up call..

Hopeful Reading of the Week

Read Thom Hartmann’s Dear Trump Administration Official: History Is Full of Loyal Men Who Thought They’d Be Protected. The reality of what will happen can help you to stiffen your resolve and bolster your hope. You’ll enjoy reading this piece for the accountability Hartmann shows us is coming.

From The Borowitz Report, Feb. 5
Tom Homan Demands ICE Agents Return Their Signing Bonuses to Him in Paper Bag

While some ICE agents grumbled about transferring their signing bonuses to Homan, he sternly reminded them, “Taking away people’s freedom isn’t free.”

_______________________________________________
* All 15 are blue states. Imagine that!
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** Even if a fourth counting of the Fulton County, GA votes somehow shows that Trump gained enough votes to win Georgia (there’s not even a remote chance that could happen in an honest recount), his Electoral College count would still show him to be the loser of the election, 290 – 248.
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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.

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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    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.

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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    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.

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.

In Case You Didn’t Hear About These


POST 1225

Live fire across I-5

1. From Robert Reich on October 20: The Other Demonstration on Saturday – what happened during the NO KINGS demonstrations:

The Marine Corps — under the watchful [creepy] eyes of JD Vance and Pete Hegseth — staged a demonstration on Saturday in southern California.

It wasn’t a No Kings demonstration, though. It was more like a Yes Kings demonstration.

Some of the Marine Corps’ [live fire] shells that were fired by M777 howitzers across California’s Interstate 5 prematurely detonated, sending shrapnel down on what could have been hundreds of motorists.

Why the hell did the Marine Corps fire [live] artillery shells over Interstate 5 anyway?

Dick Altschuler, 1943

Note that the Marines have a live fire range not too far east of where they instead stupidly put people in danger. It was apparently for the benefit and entertainment of Fauxbilly Vance and Hopeless Hegseth.

Dad risked his life over and over to fight fascism, as did 16.1 million of his brothers in arms. We saw many of their pictures at the NO KINGS protests, held by descendants of those democracy heroes.

We damn well are nearly all anti-fascism – antifa – except for our simple minded, who want quick, simplistic solutions to our complex challenges and grievances. They got no stinkin’ reason to think. Their dictator will do all the thinking for them.

Note for fools believing Republican demonizing idiocy:

THERE IS NO ANTIFA ORGANIZATION. NO OFFICIALS. NO OFFICES. It’s just a catch-all term for we Americans who are against fascism and for democracy of, by and for We The People. It’s people like my dad and his brothers in arms. It’s like my family, friends and neighbors from sea to shining sea. It’s like all 7 million of us who marched on October 18.

Got it MAGAs and Republicans in Congress? Ah, probably not.

One more thing: We damn well have no business firing live artillery shells across Interstate 5. I bet those war lovers, Vance and Hegseth, got their sophomoric jollies over that stupidity. Think about that as you look forward to Trump being confined in a mental hospital and Article 25 bringing us Vance behind the Resolute Desk. Shivers.

—————————————–

2. From Daniel Lippman in Politico last Tuesday:

Paul Ingrassia, President Donald Trump’s embattled nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, told a group of fellow Republicans in a text chain the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and said he has “a Nazi streak,” according to a text chat viewed by POLITICO.

You’re surprised that Trump would nominate a creep like Ingrassia, right? Not likely.

As serial creep and sex predator Matt Gaetz did, Ingrassia has removed his name from nomination, both of them because they hadn’t a ghost of a chance passing muster. The real question is why a Nazi was nominated by Trump. You don’t suppose Trump thinks of himself as Der Führer, do you?

—————————————–

The Trump East Wing Death Star Ballroom under construction – thanks for this, RT

3. From Donald Trump, via Steve Schmidt: about his $300 million dollar ballroom to replace the East Wing of the White House.

“It won’t interfere with the current building. It won’t be. It’ll be near it, but not touching it — and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of. It’s my favorite. It’s my favorite place. I love it” — Donald Trump

In July he said the ballroom he expected to build would not touch the East Wing. Now the East Wing is gone, there are no permits or approved plans to build or even weather proofing plans for the remaining building to protect it through the coming winter months and there is no authorization from Congress to demolish government property that is a national treasure.

Listen for, “Believe me: you’ve never seen anything like this. Nothing like it anywhere in the world. It will be the best. Nobody has ever seen anything like this. Believe me.”

And our cowardly Republican Congress stands mute watching this, doing their constant impersonation of dead crickets.

Note that Trump brought in cranes to demolish the East Wing just after the NO KINGS protests. Maybe he thought nobody would notice, that he could sneak this past us. Kinda hard to miss that kind of destruction, though. It like – yes, it’s very much like the destruction he did to the Rose Garden (take that, Michelle Obama!) and the destruction he’s doing to the Constitution.

These are hard times that are getting harder for We The People. Inflation is shrinking the value of paychecks (3% year-over-year), millions are going without a paycheck at all and soon millions more will be in financial peril because of Trump’s economic blitzkrieg on America. He’s managed to shut down the government, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, so actual employment numbers are unknown, but nobody is hiring. Tariffs derived from Trump’s vacuous brain are making things more expensive and new car sales are declining. And while people suffer, Trump is building a $300 million golden ballroom that no one but Trump wants or needs. This truly is our Marie Antoinette moment. Let the rubes eat cake.

—————————————–

Click me if you think you can stomach this.

4. Here’s yet more of Trump’s crude, crass embarrassment of our nation.

Immediately following the NO KINGS marches Trump posted his AI video of him as king piloting an F-18 and dumping feces on marchers.

Just when you thought that there was no way for Trump to debase himself and our country worse than he’s already done. Just when you foolishly thought there was a bottom to Trump’s awfulness. Just when you thought the dip shit had run out of shit.

Wake up. There is no bottom to what Trump will do or say. He’ll always find yet worse ways to be worse.

There is something so very emboldening about hatred and cruelty. And Trump’s MAGAs, hypocritical non-Christian Evangelicals, overt racist, misogynist, xenophobic, toxic masculine morons gorge themselves on it. They puff themselves up on that feeling of power. That’s Trump’s base.

Trump will always flatulate ever-more outrageous idiocy to distract you from the Epstein files. This destruction of the White House East Wing and his poopy plane are just the most recent chapters in his ongoing saga, “Bright, Shiny Objects Distract the Dopes From My Villainy.” Which leads to,

—————————————–

5. Raise your hand if you give so much as a rat’s ass if the Epstein files made public will embarrass Trump and others and send some to court and then to prison. Oh, golly: no hands.

You must (as in ‘MUST“) read Thom Hartmann’s fiery piece,

Trump’s Elite Pedophile Protection Program: Who are they Protecting?
.

It’s subtitled,

Amy Wallace says the FBI and DOJ have the list. Twenty abusers. Zero accountability. How long will we tolerate this cover-up?
.

Making this more personal, how long will YOU tolerate this cover-up? Call your senators and representative, especially if they are Republicans. You’ll know what to say to them.

—————————————–

6. We are required by all that is right to offer yet another apology to our Canadian friends. Reported by The Washington Post*: Trump cancels trade negotiations with Canada over anti-tariff ad.

That’s right. Our Infant In Chief is once again in an electric purple temper tantrum, pounding his fists and his bone spur heels on the floor and screeching his tyrannical obscenities. Now he’s yelling at a maple leaf flag, “I’ll never play with you Canadians again because you do stuff I hate so you’re a doo-doo. Maybe I’ll drop you from my kingly poo-poo-dropping airplane, too.”

Apologies to you, Oh Canada! You deserve far better from the U.S.

Now Some Good News!

Just imagine a day when the Supreme Court and we Americans can once again tell the difference between We The People and a fiction written on a piece of paper.

Many thanks to LR for passing this along.

________________________________________________

* 13 months ago Jeff Bezos caved to Trump, bent his knee and kissed the ring. He withheld the Post’s endorsement of Kamala Harris for president, betraying the newspaper’s motto on its masthead, “Democracy Dies In Darkness.” Indeed, it does and Bezos clouded the sun.

He forever stained his integrity. That’s when the Post began to bleed its finest reporters and opinion writers. I terminated my subscription. There have been no mentions of that formerly great newspaper in these commentaries since then.

I have not been able to shut off their solicitations, though, which include a daily list of their stories. I confess to being impressionable, so when they offered a year digital subscription for 50 cents per week, I accepted the offer. And yes, I feel a little slimy about doing this.

Question: How desperate must the Post be for readers if they are offering a 50 cents per week rate?

Fear not: I’ve tagged my calendar to cancel the subscription next year before the cost jumps to $3 per week. We’ll see if I can tolerate the slimy feeling that long.

Mid-Term Election
Goes fast, doesn’t it?

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe at no charge – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too, because it’s going to take ALL OF US to get this job done.

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

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

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

Click me

JA


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

Cruelty


POST 1223

  • When your political universe is sorted into “pure” and “traitor,” cruelty becomes a tool. The point isn’t just to be offensive—it’s to police loyalty.
  • – Dean Blundell
  • _______________________________________

Here’s some clarity from @JoJoFromJerz:

@JoJoFromJerz is right, of course. This intentionally cruel material dumps onto us every day. Here’s another example.

Click the pic and watch the short video.

In Cicero, IL (Chicago area) ICE thugs dragged two women from their car in an elementary school pickup line and “arrested” them. In ICE-speak that means they brutalized them, threw them to the ground, handcuffed them and jammed them into an unmarked van. They did this without a warrant or even a faint suspicion of these women having broken any law. After hours of being “detained” – that’s ICE-speak that means the women were locked up incommunicado – then they were released. Turns out those women are in this country legally, but they were treated worse than hardened criminals would be.

And the kids exiting that school were terrorized by seeing that cruelty, as were all the moms and dads in that after school pickup line.

It appears that Trump’s main Nazi, Stephen Miller, was telling the truth about ripping babies from the arms of their mothers at our southern border during Trump’s first term.* When confronted about the cruelty, the horrible barbarity his thugs were inflicting on moms and their little kids, Cruelty-Meister Miller said, “The cruelty is the point.” And he’s doing it again.

This is what Nazis do and why they do it. This cruelty toward anything not Trump and MAGA is why we have to banish these thugs, these Nazis, these fascists from any position of power in our country. It would be fine with me were we to rendition them to that El Salvador gulag. If we keep them here for a little while we must prosecute them for the laws they are breaking. We’ll bankrupt them via lawsuit, just like Trump is trying to do to people on his enemies list. Trump’s cruelty is why we must vote for Democrats.

No, the Dems aren’t perfect. But they are the only path to rid ourselves of the vicious, anti-Constitutional, anti-American, hatred-fueled Republicans. As Obama advised, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Vote for the good. Things will be better.

Maybe you aren’t convinced that we need to vote for Dems. That’s okay. But before you reject the idea entirely, read the Politico report, ‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat.

You read the title correctly. Cheering cruelty, racism, misogyny, murder and the joy of inflicting pain on others is sport to these degenerates, these Young Republicans, these Hitler Youth. It makes no difference if you believe these Young Republicans really mean the filth they mouth. Maybe it’s just youthful “locker room talk,” like Trump’s Access Hollywood filth was fraudulently called by Trump apologists. At the very least these Young Republican degenerates are enablers of such barbarity. And they are unchecked by Republicans with power today. Crickets from them.

Check the subtitle of the Politico essay: Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape. Politico found that these horrible messages were sent over at least seven months. Clearly, these egregious cruelties that are chuckled over by today’s Republicans aren’t one-offs. This is standard Republican stuff.

These are the children of Trump, the spawn of the Republican Party.

Almost as bad, Vice President J.D. Vance defended these miscreants with whataboutism. And on the Charlie Kirk Show he said,

“I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke—telling a very offensive stupid joke—is cause to ruin their lives.” He called them “kids” seven times.

Julianne McShane of Mother Jones checked out Vance’s assumptions for his exoneration of the vile texters.

I found ages for eight of the 11 people included in the chat. And, spoiler alert: None were minors. The youngest appear to be 24, the oldest 35. (I could not find publicly available ages for three of the participants.) This information raises the question: At what age does the vice president believe people become grown adults who should be held responsible for their actions?

It turns out none of the participants sending and reading those abhorrent, hateful messages is an adolescent. Nevertheless, Vance wants to exonerate them, effectively saying, “They’re just kids, you know?”  But even if they were all under 18 years old, their messages and their senders would still be abhorrent.

Here’s the worst part:

The senders of these horrible messages are
the future leaders of the Republican Party.
.

.And as you can see, they will be welcomed by today’s Vice President of the United States.

That’s why you must promote and vote for Democrats now.

NO KINGS

The NO KINGS protests – “.  .  .  the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances .  .  .” are like the Boston Tea Party, of proud American heritage. Read Heather Cox Richardson’s post of October 16 and you’ll understand.

And for sure read Ira Leavitt’s post,

Those ICE Guys Could Have Been Worse!
But Not Much Worse
.

This is cruelty. On We The People. Every day.

And we are as many as 8.2 million of We The People marching in the parks and in the streets, declaring,

NO DAMN WAY WE’LL HAVE A KING!

.

We sent one packing 242 years ago and we’ll send away this one or his 25th Amendment replacement not later than January 20, 2029. Until then and following the mid-term election next year we’ll tie them up with a stout rope made from the same parchment our Constitution is written on.

.

 

 

 

“Together Strong!!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your intrepid chronicler reporting from Highland Park, IL. NO KINGS, DAMMIT!

_________________________________________

* The last count I heard was that despite the hard work of good people in the Biden administration, having reunited over 4,000 kids with their moms, there were about 1,000 still separated, Stephen Miller did his proud, goose stepping, swastika waving work for his boss by refusing to document separations. That made reuniting moms and kids impossible for so many and that has heaped ongoing cruelty onto defenseless people.

Miller’s mother must be so proud.

Mid-Term Election
Goes fast, doesn’t it?

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe at no charge – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too, because it’s going to take ALL OF US to get this job done.

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

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

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

Click me

JA


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

WAR!


POST 1221

Reporting From War-Torn Chicago .  .  .
.

Adapted from Edward R. Murrow’s March 9, 1941 broadcast from London.

Edward R. Murrow

This is Chicago.

Soon it will be winter in America. Already the flowers in the parks are browning and wilting as though there will be no renewal next year. There’s good fighting and invading weather ahead for Trump’s shock troops. In a few days’ time the moon will be full again and there’s a feeling in the air that big, dangerous things will happen soon.

Don’t believe it’s war? Go to Broadview, IL and ask anyone about masked gunmen, smash and trash, people thrown to the ground, pepper spray blasted in the face of innocents, children zip-tied and jammed into an unmarked, blackened U-Haul. Ask about camouflaged masked gunmen rappelling from a Black Hawk attack helicopter to invade and vandalize a peaceful apartment building. Ask about people shot by masked thugs and  a priest shot in the head while praying for peace.  Ask them if at first it felt like an invasion of criminals and now it feels more like a Civil War battlefield. So much for better angels.

From pal Frank Levy:

It isn’t bad enough that 47 is sending storm troopers (ICE and CBP) to northern cities with Democratic and Black mayors to quell an insurrection that does not exist.
.
Now he is sending federalized National Guard troops from Texas to Chicago. Said another way, 47 is sending north hundreds of “sons of the south,” descendants of fighters for the “lost cause,” to quell violence, to stop an insurrection that does not exist, and control all those uppity people of color and put them back in their place. This sounds an awful lot like the making of an attack on Fort Sumter. I mean Fort Chicago.
.
Can you imagine how excited all those Texas NG troops are to be going to Chicago to stomp on those Yankees? Can you imagine how over the top Greg Abbott is to be the first southern governor to send troops from his little army to control or attack the abolitionists in Chicago?
.
We all know 47 wants to instigate violence so he can justify sending in the big guns. And we have known for some time that the MAGA cult has wanted a true Civil War. It looks like 47 is setting the stage for the outbreak of real violence and America’s 2nd Civil War.
.

Click me for the story

MAGA-types have been calling for a shooting civil war in and on America for a long time. I confess that I find a certain appeal to most of the federal tax sucking red states (dark colored states in the pic) seceding from our present disunion and having to go it alone without the hundreds of billions of dollars from blue states to support their bullying conceits every year. These are the people who decry welfare for desperately poor people but are quite happy to suck money from blue states for themselves..

At least since 2016 dementia addled Trump has been calling for martial law to be led by his bone spur self. He’ll command the bloody, treasonous travesty while sitting safely on his gold toilet. He is enacting a Constitution eviscerating war on America right now, making the have-not dupes do the fighting, leaving the rich guys safely on their yachts and in their mansions, protected by their security forces.
.
Still don’t believe this is war? Read Jonathan Last’s essay in TheBulwark from October 7, Emergency Triad: The Chicago Rubicon and What Comes Next. If the facts Last presents don’t convince you and make you want to scream and do something to right this foundering ship of democracy, this last, best hope, you have a world class case of denial.
.
Didn’t the Republicans used to be the tough-on-crime guys? Weren’t they absolutist believers in bedrock American values like those made clear by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, at least for themselves? Weren’t they the bible thumping, Jesus everything, black-and-white, obey-the-law unquestion-alists? Where’s their fury over Trump violating the Constitution, the law and the courts multiple times every day?
.
Actually, the Republicans have always been bible thumpers. It bolsters their certainties and justifies everything they want to do, including violently attacking people for an insurrection that doesn’t exist and locking up innocents who don’t pass the racial profiling test. Bible thumping is what the boundlessly manhood deficient KKK used to use to justify lynchings. All the official strongman, tough guy posturing today is the current version of manhood deficiencies. And it actually is as deranged as it sounds.
.
To be fair, this has been ongoing insanity at least since the Rutherford B. Hayes administration. He’s the selfish bastard who killed Reconstruction to sell out southern Blacks (yet again) in order to get the presidency for himself. Republicans have constantly and aggressively been blasting away at everyone and everything that isn’t White and identifies as whatever their current distortion of Christianity might be. Oppression and hypocrisy aren’t new here.
.
We Don’t Have a Trump Problem
We have a cowardice, hypocrisy and greed problem. All of this war on America could be stopped almost instantly if Republicans in Congress would actually find their spines and honor their oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
.

Instructions for being a Republican

But there’s no chance of that happening. These people sold out a long time ago. They sold their integrity and they sold their honor. Likely, they don’t even remember a time when they had clarity on what is right and what is wrong. Their clarity now is limited to what serves themselves best in the short term, which consists solely of sucking up to Trump..

This war is no fiction, no movie. Harm is being inflicted on real people and death has already come to some.
.
It takes a certain trust and a stretch of empathy to see this violent lawlessness from my peaceful North Shore neighborhood. But that’s what they thought in Highland Park, IL in the morning of July 4, 2022. Everything seemed peaceful. Then suddenly it wasn’t.
.
Maybe there’s no war to see where you live. But there is a shooting war in America right now, with bullets flying in only one direction – at We The People – regardless of whether you can see the violence from your door step.
.

From Project 2025 in Action: Sounding the Alarm for Democracy:

Each of us can take steps to support – and perfect – our democracy, whether through talking with friends, family, and neighbors, contacting elected representatives, or exercising our right to protest. The value of the right to speak freely, to celebrate dissent even when uncomfortable, to have a say in our government, to live free from surveillance and the threat of unwarranted punishment, demands no less.

– Julie Goldscheid, Professor of Law Emeritus at CUNY School of Law

What Would They Say or Do Today?

Looking towards the Paul Revere statue and the rear of the historic Old North Church in Boston, MA. Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey

Paul Revere made his famous ride because of the immediate threat posed by the tyrannical British overlords and their soldiers advancing on the colonists. One lantern was hung in the belfry of the Old North Church in Boston and that sent Revere speeding on his horse to sound the alarm.

We are no less threatened today by the advancing tyranny of the Trump administration. Today Revere’s call would be:.

The fascists are coming! The fascists are coming!
.

What would Paul Revere do today? What will you do today?

Thomas Paine told us:

Thomas Paine

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered;

What would Paine say of our American Crisis today? What would he implore us to do?

What will you do today? Click here for guidance. And read this.

  • NO KINGS!
  • Be there on October 18 – in just 6 days – to join millions of our fellow democracy loving Americans and make your voice heard. Insist that there will be no fascism and NO KING in the United States of America!
  • Click the map below to find a demonstration near you. There are over 2,500 of them ready to go in blue states and red states – in every state.

Be there!

Click me

Final Words

“The fundamental reason for all our evil is our desperate attempt to prove our preferred illusion true by slaughtering everyone who clings to a different illusion.”

Who is it who wants to do the slaughtering?

Still Standing

Three years ago Rep,Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Some Other Reality) ranted idiotically,

“Not only do we have the DC jail which is the DC gulag, but now we have Nancy Pelosi’s gazpacho police spying on members of Congress, spying on the legislative work that we do, spying on our staff and spying on American citizens,”

It stands yet today as a supreme MAGA totem against intelligence – and gazpacho soup. Take no comfort in her now demanding that Trump’s Big Ugly Bill be neutered of its attack on healthcare because the cost of healthcare insurance for her adult sons will double. The rest of you . . . oh wait: she doesn’t even see you.

Click me

“Reporting from Chicago, Good night and good luck.”

Mid-Term Election
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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 necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. 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 length, readability, punctuation, typos and voluntary idiocy and to exclude those I deem inappropriate or intentionally cruel. If you must post something cruel, stop reading these posts immediately and instead invest your time with a good therapist.
  7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally and unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


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

Who and What We Are


POST 1213

With Sad and Angry Regret, John Lewis

Nope, we’re not better than this.

There have been assassinations here since before we were a country. Multiple presidents have been shot. Sandy Hook happened and we were all so sad, but we continued killing one another as though those little kids were still alive and in their 1st grade classrooms.

Until his murder I knew next to nothing about Charlie Kirk. Had I known more about him likely I wouldn’t have agreed with him about any of his views, which, of course, is not the point. The point is that someone wanted to murder him and did so quite easily.

Click me and read the whole text.

Now President Trump plans to give Kirk our highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Kirk didn’t find a cure for a terrible disease. He didn’t carry people out of a burning building. He didn’t risk his life saving church or synagogue members from a would-be assassin. He didn’t stand a post anywhere to protect our freedom and our democracy, nor did he serve We The People in Congress. No, he was just a political activist. During his first term Trump gave drug addict Rush Limbaugh the PMoF, so with the flipping of another of those medals soon to Kirk’s next of kin, Trump is continuing to debase what was once a richly deserved, high honor.

Vice President Fauxbilly Vance has gone to Utah to retrieve civilian Charlie Kirk’s body and casket, plus his family, and fly them to Phoenix. In Air Force Two. On our dime. For a political activist. Not for an esteemed titan of democracy. Not for a hero. For just a political activist who had success motivating young people.

Kirk was a supporter of Trump, so of course Trump, the Adoration Junkie, has ordered flags at federal buildings to be lowered to half-staff. Do you suppose he’d do the same for any progressive activist who was shot? Or for any of the “suckers” and “losers” buried at Arlington National Cemetery?

Click me

Here’s Jennifer Rubin from before the arrest of the alleged perp:

Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, Donald Trump has chosen to politicize [Charlie] Kirk’s murder, blaming the rhetoric of the “radical left”—all before anyone has been identified, let alone arrested for the murder.

Sadly, he and the MAGA troops reserve outrage only when Republicans are targeted (compare the near-silence when [Democratic] Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was targeted, the mockery when [Democrat] Paul Pelosi was nearly killed, and the snide remarks when two Minnesota Democrats were assassinated).

In each of these cases Trump demonized the left or ignored others’ tragedies, both of which encourage more violence.

So, don’t even think of both-sidesing this idiocy.* Only one side promotes violence to get its way. Only one side encourages hatred of the other side, although I confess to speaking ill at times about the violent ones, the willfully ignorant ones and the hateful ones.

Only one side adores a convict president who regularly urges them to violence. Only one side has a leader who promoted violent, murderous, treasonous insurrection and then pardoned the criminals, leaving them to believe that they can get away with maiming and killing in his name any time.

Only one side continues to pervert the Second Amendment from solely encouraging a stand-by militia for an at-risk fledgling country, to promoting a universal right to own and use modern weapons of war. Only one side stockpiles arsenals of weapons and ammunition, encouraged by puff-up slogans, like  “from my cold, dead hands,” and other pitiful macho, tough guy excuses. They give goose bumps to those angry guys who need to show they’re tough guys. And they give them excuse to do violence to others.

We have always been a violent society. Ask Blacks whose people were whipped and lynched. Ask Native Americans whose ancestors were massacred as state policy in order to take from them what we promised to leave to them. Ask any parent of a school child, anyone living in a drive-by kill zone – ask anyone.

So, no, John Lewis, We aren’t better than this. This is exactly who and what we are. We are violent, self-excusing murderous perps. In fact, I’ll take this one very dangerous step further.

We’ve Seen This Awful Movie Before And We Know How It Ends

In 1933 shortly after Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany in a free and fair election, there was a mysterious fire in the Reichstag building where the German parliament met. Here’s a pretty good explanation from Wikipedia:

The Reichstag Fire Decree . . . officially the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State . . .  was a decree issued by German President Paul von Hindenburg on the advice of Chancellor Adolf Hitler on 28 February 1933 in immediate response to the Reichstag fire. The decree nullified many of the key civil liberties of German citizens. With the Nazis in powerful positions in the German government, the decree was used as the legal basis for the imprisonment of anyone considered to be opponents of the Nazis, and to suppress publications not considered “friendly” to the Nazi cause. The decree is considered by historians as one of the key steps in the establishment of a one-party Nazi state in Germany.

One mysterious fire and fingers of blame – scapegoating – were pointed and all semblance of democracy and everyone’s freedom were lost for a very long, murderous time.

Now consider this over-blown, over-played, over-politicized murder of Charlie Kirk. A super “conservative” guy was shot by someone who disliked him or his views. You don’t suppose that Trump will call that “radical lefty” violence and use it to brand all liberals as traitors, do you? Oh, wait: he already has.

It’s time to suspend your explanations and your self-protection schemes against the evils of Trump’s authoritarianism. Recognize that even if this murder isn’t the sole justification for the absolute power being sought by Trump, truncation of your liberty is on the way.

This ain’t bean bag.

Be sure to read Charlie Sykes’ post, Weaponizing the Murder of Charlie Kirk. The attacks on our freedoms are flying fast and with fantastical hatred – all aimed at you.

Final comment: For those like Charlie Kirk who claim to be Christians and use their bible thumping to justify spewing vitriol toward others (see footnote), you have to show me where in the Christian bible – any version of Christian bible – where followers are instructed to hate others, to persecute others. Then these thumpers can get me to believe they’re true Christians. Until then, they’re just hateful hypocrites.

Many thanks to pal FL for his contributions to this post.

The Deconstructing Trump Corner
.
  • I believe that deliberate, conscienceless mendacity.
  • the acceptance of falsehood and hypocrisy,
  • is the most dangerous of all sins.
  • Tennessee Williams, 1957
  • The biggest liar in the world is They Say.
  • [Or, “People are saying” – JA]
  • Douglas Malloch, 1978
  • _____________________________________________________

* Excerpt from Thom Hartmann’s piece, The “Both Sides” Scam: How False Balance Fuels Extremism:

” .  .  .  in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination — the guy who downplayed slavery, demonized Black and brown people, promoted the racist, antisemitic Great Replacement Theory, attacked queer people, made degrading comments about women, said gun deaths were fine because that’s the price we must pay for the Second Amendment .  .  . “

I guess with his murder Kirk paid what he said is “the price we must pay” for what is actually the constantly misused and abused Second Amendment, contorted by macho wannabees and the NRA. And Charlie Kirk. This hateful extremist righty, this performative Christian should not have been murdered. But Trump promotes violence against the left which will fuel the next murderers who think they are the true patriots doing Great Leader’s bidding.

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  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe at no charge – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too, because it’s going to take ALL OF US to get this job done.

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

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

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

    Click me

    JA


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

The News


POST 1209

First, a Feel-Good

Things are changing. People are standing up and speaking out. Not just the usual suspects, but even Republicans and MAGAs. Even some high profile types are finding their way out of “nice” and are on the attack (at last!). Trump has so outrageously overplayed his hand that we’ve had some electoral wins and a beginning of the possibility of ripping our country out of the treasonous clutches of the fascists. So, what will we do when the good guys are back in charge? It starts with a re-set.

Rick Wilson put some thought to that and wrote a bill to be introduced in Congress on January 20, 2029 or, perhaps, on January 3, 2027. Read his Restoration of America Governance Act, designed to undo much of Trump’s lawless and unconstitutional actions. It’s a short and good read.

Now, Ugly Stuff
  1. Heather Honey is the election conspiracy theorist liar who claimed that in the 2020 not-stolen election that in Pennsylvania there were 205,000 more votes than voters. Baseless idiocy. She’s all about preventing people from voting and now Trump has named her to a new “election integrity” post at DHS. What could possibly go wrong?
  2. From Democracy Docket: “On a recent episode of his podcast, former Trump advisor Steve Bannon made a chilling prediction: ICE agents will be stationed near polling places for the 2026 midterm elections.” Last election they made it illegal to bring water to people waiting to vote in long lines on hot days. Thugocracy.
  3. Louisiana told the justices of the Supreme Court that it will no longer defend the court-ordered map that added a second majority-Black congressional district. Instead, the state argued that any use of race in redistricting is unconstitutional. Yes, really.
  4. In a separate case, Alabama asked SCOTUS to strike down a lower court ruling requiring it to draw another majority-Black congressional district.

Points 3 & 4 are noteworthy for one reason. The GOP in most red states have worked tirelessly for decades to prevent non-Whites from voting, from purging voter registration roles using cruel racist schemes, to closing nearby polling places, to eliminating ballot drop boxes, to their wildly discriminating voter ID laws and more. Now they’re objecting to rulings that favor fair representation for non-Whites on the basis of racial discrimination! Their hypocrisy has no bottom.

    5. From this “Treason” post detailing Trump’s attack on Nicolle Wallace:

Since returning to power, Donald Trump has unleashed a coordinated assault on the free press unlike anything in American history. He’s personally attacked journalists he wants removed; he’s revived his “enemy of the people” designation against the Constitution’s only protected profession; he’s sued major outlets for coverage he deems unflattering; he’s threatened to revoke broadcast licenses of outlets who don’t cater to his preferences; he’s weaponized the FCC and effectively installed a personal “bias monitor” to oversee CBS News; he’s hijacked Voice of America and turned it into a pro-Trump global news outlet; he’s de-funded organizations like NPR and PBS; he’s changed long-standing Justice Department policies to make it easier to monitor journalists, to seize their records, and to search their homes; and more.

And that’s just about his attacks on one part of the First Amendment.

I’m a political news junkie, so I don’t expect anyone to be as focused on this stuff as I commonly am, but I found myself doing something that, on reflection, is frightening.

I was doing some chores in the kitchen with the TV on CNN. They covered the embarrassingly fawning Cabinet meeting, with seemingly otherwise functional (if unqualified) adults not reporting on their departments, but instead spewing cringe-worthy adulation onto Trump. CNN’s next topic was reporting on Trump’s threats to send our military into Chicago and reflexively I clicked off the TV. I bailed. I dropped out. Couldn’t stomach the river of bile. But if this political junkie dropped out, likely, that means that huge numbers of people won’t pay attention to what is happening to our country. That’s really dangerous.

I’ve dropped back in. We all need to be in.

Next, Bang Bang!

First, let’s recognize that our pathological president is working his hardest to negate everything Obama and Biden accomplished, including the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. However insufficient, that was the first major gun safety legislation passed by Congress in nearly 30 years.

Next, much as it’s so painful to see the reality, let’s recognize the brutality of the murders and wounding of little kids at the Annunciation Catholic Church School in Minneapolis last week.

Now I want you to imagine you’re the mom in the photo to the right, running in near panic for her children. She didn’t even put on her shoes. She just ran. You would, too.

Take a moment to feel her panic, her dread, her terror. That is the reality of every mass shooting, especially when it involves children.

Recognize that Trump wants to make it easier for hate-filled terrorists to get guns, assault rifles, large capacity magazines, bump stocks and more. Trump wants to do nothing to prevent the horror that has overcome that woman or anyone. His actions steadfastly declare that he doesn’t care how many little kids are ripped apart by bullets fired by a hatred filled terrorist.

Last, Some Hopeful Stuff

Chicago Mayor Brandon Jackson stood strong yesterday, calling Trump’s invasion of Chicago exactly what it is. He signed the Protecting Chicago Initiative executive order. It does many things including protecting the people from federal overreach and declaring that the CPD won’t collaborate with Trump’s Gestapo. Jackson joins governors Newsome, Pritzker, Moore, Walz and others standing against and speaking out VERY LOUDLY against Trump’s violations of our Constitution and the militarization of our country. Listen to Mayor Jackson’s powerful presentation here.

You know lots of the reasons why we have to do whatever it takes to defeat Trump, his sycophants, his cowardly, hypocritical legislators, his lying, extremist administration officials, his ICE Gestapo, his education destroyers, his know nothings undermining our healthcare and all of science – all of those who seek to destroy our values. We need to see Rick Wilson’s  Restoration of America Governance Act become real.

And we can do that.

The Deconstructing Trump Corner
.
  • Whoever is careless with truth in small matters
  • cannot be trusted in important affairs
  • Albert Einstein, 1979
  • The truth does not change
  • according to our ability
  • to stomach it emotionally.
  • Flannery O’Connor
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  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe at no charge – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too, because it’s going to take ALL OF US to get this job done.

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

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

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

    Click me

    JA

Mid-Term Election
Countdown Timer
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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 this job done.

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

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

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

Click me

JA


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

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