First Amendment

No Fever, But A Hopeful Dream


POST 1250

January 6, 2027, 9:00 PM EST

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sen. Warren holds up a thick document.

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

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

Sen. Warren hands the document to Speaker Jeffries.

HJ: Speaker Jeffries holds up the document.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We’ll have no more of that.

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

EW: Let’s look at another section.

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

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

_________________________

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

Take action!

________________________________________

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

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    The Fine Print:

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

    Click me

    JA


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

An Update – With Questions


POST 1249

ICE Murders

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do you feel safer?

Is our nation safer?

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

Is this the kind of country you expected or want?

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

More Pesky Questions

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

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

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

Playing With Numbers

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

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

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

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

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

Three Questions

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

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

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

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    The Fine Print:

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

    Click me

    JA


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

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.

Wrong Side of the Bed


POST 1242

 

NOTE: This post started as “Wrong Side Of The Bed” but somewhere in the process of editing it became clear that it actually was “Year End – Part One” but the change didn’t stick in the composing machine. You’ll have to imagine the correct title yourself.

Coming Attractions

The next Democratic (and democratic) president will spend a significant portion of his/her time reversing Trump actions.

  1. How ’bout an elegant evening at the Trump-Kennedy Center? No worries. Trump is just a mongrel dog that has to piss on every fire hydrant and tree and put his name on every building. The Trump name will be erased from the Center, the entryway to the facility will be sanitized and his hand picked, suck up Board Members will be fired, all on Day One. In fact, Trump’s name will be removed from every federal building in the nation. To get a better understanding of how ferociously, psychotically rabid Trump is, see these links from Mother Jones:
  2. We think that the rule of law is a good thing, even as it is under such relentless attack. Again, no worries. The new president will see that the perps doing illegal and un-constitutional things today will be introduced to the defendant’s table in courtrooms across the land.
  3. The new president will issue dozens of executive orders on Day One to reverse nearly everything Trump has done by executive order. The rest of his lawlessness will be challenged and reversed in court.
  4. Trump’s cheap gold glitter will be removed from every part of the White House. If the preposterous ballroom is still under construction, all the glitter will be removed and orders for more will be cancelled. A new use will be found for the building. Maybe for a Boys and Girls Clubs activity center, or housing for homeless vets, or a food bank for needy people.
  5. The snarky, whiny plaques Trump put beneath the portraits of past presidents will be replaced by the simple ones that had been beneath them – the ones that show only their names and dates of service.
  6. The portrait of Trump will be turned around so that it faces the wall.
  7. The next Democratic president will end our illegal, murderous attacks on land and sea and will visit our allies to reassert our commitment to our mutual support and partnership. If the  Russian war on Ukraine is still underway, we will ship massive armaments to Ukraine that can reach into Russia as far as necessary to force Russia to retreat in surrender.
  8. There will be renewed support for the things a large majority of us want, like: Medicare for All: sensible gun safety legislation: tax policy that serves all the people, not just the uber-wealthy; safe and legal abortion; support for fighting climate warming* and scientific research; and making higher education affordable. Our faithful federal workers will be rehired and will restart their efforts to protect us and our Constitution and much more.
  9. The new president will denounce Trump for his efforts to end birthright citizenship, a right that is articulated plainly and clearly in the 14th Amendment.** Similarly, he will excoriate the Supreme Court for having agreed to hear Trump’s case that is an effort to end run that Amendment. New Pres will recommend disbarment of all Trump lawyers who tried to end that right. They will be required to have a copy of the Constitution on their person at all times and all of them will have “XIV” tattooed on the back of each hand.
  10. Serious efforts will be made to make public the horrors of the Epstein cruelty and the criminality of his “guests,” but the new AG will find Pam Bondi’s desk and files empty and her hard drive will have been scrubbed. Have low expectations here.
  11. The Epstein cover up story will not go away. Neither will our resolve to support the victims who were so cruelly abused, some unable to even survive. The next Democratic/democratic president will stand with us to stand by these women. They will at last get the justice and a chance for relief from their suffering. Furthermore, we will not stand by and allow the perpetrators of those horrible crimes to continue to get away with their criminal cruelty. They will receive all the justice they deserve.

You get the idea. America will once again do what is right.

Finally, In This Season of Regaining Light

This is for all the big, tough bullies who beat up defenseless people.

Don’t forget:

The little people are as big as you are.

Whoever you are. – Tom Waits

For those who have at least a little understanding of the meaning of at least one end-of-year holiday (i.e. they know these celebrations aren’t about buying perfume, jewelry or a new car),

wishing you happy holidays and a request for us all to be good to one another.

_________________________________________________

* Climate warming deniers and the insatiable conspiracy mongers and the frothing dark web bobble heads will be required to get a brain MRI yearly and “ace” a cognitive test. They will have to wear a GPS signaling mouth monitor so that we’re alerted when they claim global warming is a hoax. Actually, they are the hoax.

** If Trump can end birthright citizenship, what’s to stop him from ending habeas corpus, free speech, protection from cruel and unusual punishment and the right to vote? What will stop him from restoring slavery?

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!) 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.

Starting To Set Things Right


POST 1236

Cheers For Freedom Of Speech

One of the most valuable rights we Americans have is the right of free speech. What that means is that the government is prohibited from restricting our speech, stopping us from saying what we want to say, even if we are criticizing the government or any of its employees. There are some exceptions, like for slander, liable and incitement to violence. That’s how it’s been since 1789 and it’s worked pretty well for our democracy and our freedom all this time. We can say pretty much what we want to say, as did six legislators who told the truth about the prohibition of military personnel to obey illegal orders. See the Special Slime section in this post for more.

The government may not censor us just because some wrinkly, thin-skinned official cries “MEANY!” or “UNFAIR!” or “TRAITOR” on the playground at recess time and throws an infantile tantrum, then runs to his fixer, his present day Roy Cohn (his AG, Bondi) demanding prosecution of whoever dared to speak truth about him.

Having so many opportunities to right grievous presidential wrongs, we’re getting better at this.

A Mini-Summary

A court says Alina Habba, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s surrogate for unconstitutional cases, is an illegal U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. The appeals court agrees and replaced Habba with Desiree Leigh Grace. Immediately Bondi fired Grace and put Habba back into control of that office. We’ll see how long that lasts, because judges typically have the last say.

Click me for the U.S. Department of Revisionist History

Another court says beauty queen Lindsey Halligan was not properly vetted and appointed, so it dumped her cases against James Comey and Letitia James, then spanked her hand with judicial smack downs. Andy Borowitz opined that Halligan’s dream is to go to law school some day.

It seems that maybe, possibly, might be, could be Pete Hegseth has finally crossed a red line. Following 10 months of saying stupid things, he ordered our military to kill survivors of our homicidal drone strikes on boats in international waters. A lot of people have their underwear in a bunch over that, including senators and representatives. They say those acts are war crimes and murder. Ya think? At last Hegseth may get what he has coming; specifically a boot out the White House back door and perhaps prosecutions for his impressive list of illegal actions. We’ll all have lots to say about this deviant in the coming months.

AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks earned his title  of czar only because: 1. Nobody knows what someone in charge of AI and/or crypto does or should do; 2. Donald Trump likes big superlative seeming stuff that gets attention, like the title “czar.”

Hard to read. It’s a huge billboard in Chicago not far from  Broadview that reads “IMPEACH TRUMP.”

Adapted from a quotation by management expert Peter Drucker:

“We are using the word ‘czar’ only because ‘charlatan’ is too long to fit into a headline.”

That quote can be used for just about every Trump appointment. And yeah, I get to say that. It’s that freedom of speech thing.

Our reality show president has been waging a verbal war on narco-terrorism, perhaps believing he can Truth Social it into submission and randomly kill whoever someone tells him is a drug something or other. Apparently, even the dementia-addled have the right of free speech, much as that sucks in this case.

Trump is definitely a tough guy who is verbally tough on narco-terrorism and Hispanic landscapers, but now he has pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, a former president of Honduras. He was convicted in the United States of a vast drug-trafficking operation that prosecutors said dumped over 400 million tons of drugs into the U.S. Trump has pardoned this biggest narco-terrorist of them all, enraging Elmer Fudd, who oinked furiously, “I’ll get that wasco, if it’s the wast thing I eva do!” So much for Trump being the narco tough guy.

Since the power of pardons rests solely with the sitting president we can’t prosecute Trump for this affront. We are left with investigating how much money was given to Trump for that pardon. Watch for that investigation as Trump’s biggest pay-to-play bribe. It might be part of a package of bribery investigations starting in 2027, then pursued by the Department of Justice in 2029.

Click me for the transformational story.

We’re starting to set things right. My notion is that it’s going to take more than a generation to clean up all the terrible mess the infant tyrant has made. It will take many years to remove his bad boys and bad girls and prosecute them in accordance with the law. Let’s hope that foot dragging Merrick Garland has nothing to do with initiating those prosecutions so that we don’t get stymied by the statute of limitations.

That said, courts are largely doing what they are supposed to do, although John Roberts cannot live long enough to somehow be worthy of forgiveness for giving immunity from prosecution to Trump. Our Republican legislators are beginning to see that it may be safe for them to retrieve their spines from the Senate and House Cloak Rooms, where they checked them upon being sworn in.

It’s Partisan

President Donald Trump has told us that the Epstein thing is a partisan witch hunt being conducted by Democrats, much like his claim about Russians helping him in his elections; like “affordability” and inflation; like Hegseth’s “Kill them all” criminality; like so many issues. It’s about the other party. So, I have a question.

My party is the Constitution of the United States. What is Trump’s party?

Now is the time to come to the aid of your Constitution.
Goes fast, doesn’t it?

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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 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.

Two Cruelties


POST 1228

Keeping Score

Trump’s Reichsführer, Stephen Miller, White House Nazi-in-residence, has an important goal. He says that we must deport (not incarcerate; deport) 1 million people per year, regardless of anyone’s absence of criminality, lawful U.S. residency or even citizenship. That may have to do with something primitive about blood and  soil.

Here’s the math.

1 million people removed in a year will require 2,739 people to be disappeared every day. ICE reports that they’ve disappeared 527,000 – about 1,370 per day. Clearly, Trump’s Thug Corps. is not on pace to brutalize people to match up with Miller’s nutso number. And there is nobody checking ICE’s number – could be worse – any more than there is anyone stopping their cruelty, so there is no particular credibility to their body count.

Now you see the reason for the Jonathan Swift solution proposed in POST 1227. It should appeal to psycho Stephen Miller as a serious recommendation cruel enough even for Trump, especially as a distraction from the Epstein files and rumored pedophilia and sex trafficking of little girls. And that perpetuates the cruelty to all of the victims of Epstein and his clients.

They messed up. They let us know there’s an Epstein black book and a gazillion documents of his crimes and those of his allegedly wicked “clients.” Trump can dance, deny, and distract, but he and his bootlickers can’t make us forget that the incriminating evidence exists. I just hope that someone is retaining unaltered copies of the evidence so that suck up sycophant Pam Bondi can’t redact all of it into a black blob.

Congressman Brad Schneider (D-IL 10) and the Republicans

From Rep. Schneider’s October 31 newsletter:

On Monday [October 27], as chair of the New Democrat Coalition (New Dems), I reached out to my counterparts in the Republican Main Street Caucus and the Republican Governance Group (RG2), proposing we sit down to look for common ground and shared ideas for breaking the impasse between Republicans and Democrats  I was hopeful they would agree to join me in bipartisan conversations. Unfortunately, neither one was willing to engage. [I]nstead they leaked my outreach to the press and told us to effectively “pound sand.” Click here for [the] MSNBC story on my letter.

That’s what we can count on for help to get justice for Epstein’s victims and ICE’s victims. And that should tell you all you need to know about how desperate Trump and Speaker Johnson are to maintain distractions to prevent the Epstein files from being made public and how desperate Republicans are to avoid displeasing Trump. No amount of food shortages, economic woes and healthcare suffering by the public will dissuade them and fellow Republicans from stalling and covering up the horrific crimes likely to be found in those Epstein documents or stop the ICE unlawful cruelty.

From Steve Schmidt, November 3

The American people are besieged by malice, indifference, corruption, incompetence, venal leaders and a boiling hot lava of stupidity, which truly appears to be bottomless. It seems that a corrosive awfulness has saturated everything, everywhere, and that nothing decent remains.

Of course, that is the hope of the architects of our shared misery. Hopelessness is their greatest weapon. Fear is the poisoned tip of their arrow.

We’ve seen the poison tipped arrow up close in Chicago and now in Mt. Prospect, IL at the Randhurst Mall, in quiet residential neighborhoods in Northbrook and in Evanston. Rachel Maddow covered the ICE-hole* brutality on Monday, including an interview with Mayor Daniel Biss. Click here and then on the right for the Chicagoland Sets The Example segment. And click here for an ICE deportation tracker.

There are no riots, there is no vandalism, there are no attacks on people or property in our cities by We The People who are protesting ICE cruelty and Epstein victim cruelty. No one in the streets is rioting, regardless of the phantasmagoria spouted by the Liar In Chief.

Our police cannot fight ICE because doing so would be a violation of the law. The Republicans in Congress could fight the ICE cruelty as well as the cruelty to Epstein victims, but they are spineless cowards. That leaves the opposition to the fascists to you and me.

And that calls on us for our courage.

As your blood boils seeing the cruelty done to the survivors of Epstein and his clients and the cruelty to our neighbors in our streets, remember that any violence by We The People in the streets will give Trump his unwarranted excuse to send the Marines to permanently occupy our country and our freedom will be lost. That is what the domestic terrorists headquartered in Washington want. So .  .  .

Speak up. Show up. Take a stand. And remain non-violent. Always.

__________________________________________

* “ICE-hole” – kudos for the creativity and thanks to MHA for use of the term.

Goes fast, doesn’t it?

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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 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.

Click me

JA


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

Another Modest Proposal – Plus What Americans Want


POST 1227
Most Important First

You MUST read Prof. Timothy Snyder’s warning, The Next Terrorist Attack And What Comes After (Updated). It is an urgent warning for all of us.

The Jonathan Swift Solution

Click me

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is expensive. We’re paying over $28 billion per year plus another $170 billion from a bill passed in July for their president-led cruelty. This is your money, honey, that we’re giving to ICE thugs in a time of reduced food availability, vastly increased unemployment, a severe housing shortage, skyrocketing healthcare costs and more.

“Enough!” I say, There is a simple solution at hand, similar to A Modest Proposal offered bu Jonathan Swift to the people of Ireland in 1729. Trump and 4th Reichsführer Stephen Miller are sure to love this.

Instead of doing all the pesky legal things like due process that lefty vermin demand for Hispanics, whether they’re criminals or legal immigrants or simply Hispanic-looking American citizens, we will arrest and slaughter them. It will be a fine start for reversing the Great Replacement of White Americans.

But slaughter isn’t enough. We must not waste. We must process the slaughtered ones like beef and feed the meat to our poor people. That will provide multiple benefits:

Click me for the gold plated story.

  1. We’ll get those pesky non-White Christian pretenders off our streets.
  2. We’ll free up housing for real Americans.
  3. We’ll put our legal poor to work processing the meat so they will no longer be unemployed drags on our White population.
  4. Our poor will be fed this new food supply and thereby avoid compromising our regular food stocks intended for the rest of us.
  5. The savings will be enormous and crime rates will plummet.

We at last will be harvesting value from those caravans of immigrants, the murderers, the rapists and the ones hauling drugs to poison real Americans whom Trump warned us about in that golden escalator moment in 2015. How very Final Solution this will be!

Once we’re done with the Browns we can harvest the Blacks, then the Jews and the Muslims. Important footnote*

What Real Americans Want – The Numbers**

It’s cringe worthy when any Republican or former Republican gets misty-eyed in their self-certainty and lets roll off their tongues that this is a center-right country. I’ll give them a good score for being glib, but not for being accurate. Here, updated from June 4, 2025 is truth about where we’re at.

85 – 92% of Americans believe Social Security benefits should be maintained or increased.

58 – 73% of Americans support raising (not cutting) taxes on the wealthy and big corporations.

56 – 70% of Americans want Medicare For All (MFA). Enough with the ridicule of Bernie Sanders.

63% of Americans believe abortion should be legal.

52 – 63% of Americans believe automatic weapons should be banned.***

56 – 60% of Americans want stricter gun laws.

70 – 85% of Americans want strong red flag laws to keep guns out of the hands of abusers.

67% of Americans want the minimum wage to be $15/hour.

74% of Americans want Dreamers to have legal status in the U.S.

62 – 66% of Americans believe medication abortion should be legal.

82% of Americans want Medicaid to either stay the same or increase.

63 – 67% of Americans oppose ICE raids in schools and places of worship.

80% of Americans support maintaining or increasing SNAP (food stamp) benefits.

75 – 90% of Americans oppose redistricting (gerrymandering) for political advantage.

When asked if they’re righties or lefties, millions of Americans claim to be conservatives – center-right or even more to the right. But when they’re asked specifically about their views on the issues above, they respond just as you see – like progressives. That’s why conservative blabbers really should stuff a sock in it. Their center-right claim just isn’t true.

If We The People want these things – and we’ve wanted them for a very long time – how come we don’t have them? Click here for the answer.

About the Kids Who Sat At The Back of the Classroom Shooting Spitballs Instead of Paying Attention
.

30% of Americans believe the 2020 election was stolen from Trump but have no – zero – evidence for their belief. ZERO!

35% of Americans cannot name the 3 branches of government.

26% of Americans believe the sun orbits the Earth.

There will be no Blue Light Special to save us from the craziness on the cheap. This is going to cost our blood, sweat and tears. And it is a challenge worthy of America.

4 – 10% of Americans believe the Earth is flat. *****

27% of Americans distrust science.

The roughly 30% who are spitballers blindly follow Trump and they say and believe preposterous things. But many of them align with the list above of What Real Americans Want, even as they mindlessly continue to believe they are righties and continue to shoot spitballs.

If we want something better, like the center-left policies listed above, we’ll have to do something different, like elect Democrats to power who will get off their timid, boring, lazy butts and craft a comprehensive, audacious plan for We The People to get what we want.**** To that point, click to Ben Cominos’ post,

Project 2029: The Blueprint the Left Has Been Too Afraid to Write
.

It will take generations to fix the damage we’ve allowed to be done by our self-serving cowards and hypocrites who cower before bullies and debase themselves to lobbyists. And we’ve been let down – harmed, really – by the willful indifference of the over 90 million eligible voters whose butts remain on their couches every election.

Now is the best time to start the clean-up of the terrible Republican mess in Aisle 2025.

The Department of Hope

If we are to have hope for a better tomorrow we must stop wringing our hands. We have to reach down and grab our grit and use it to attack what deserves to be attacked. It’s time to speak the truth about America and Americans and demand the America We The People want. You know: center-left. That fight is what gives us hope. Plan the work. Work the plan.

Every day in every way, punch the bully in the nose and demand Project 2029 from the Democrats. Maybe then enough people will vote for them and we can start to get what we want.

Don’t back down. Don’t ever back down.
.

Click me. Definitely click me.

Update to Post 1226: Feel Better Now?

Americans are facing imminent food and healthcare shortages, loan defaults and other sufferings. Tens of thousands of federal workers are being forced to work for no pay, including air traffic controllers, TSA personnel and more. Your travel safety is in their hands. Do you really want them going to work hungry, worried about the mortgage, the car payment, feeding their kids, and cranky? And is any of that even remotely fair or right or decent?

Even as workers suffer, federal legislators are receiving full pay for not doing their jobs and the President of the United States is receiving full pay while expanding his grift, graft and cruelty. In addition,

ICE THUGS CONTINUE TO RECEIVE FULL PAY
FOR DOING THEIR CRUELTY AND BRUTALITY.
.

Betcher not feeling better about that.

__________________________________________________

* This section is satire; i.e. not a real recommendation. It is an exaggeration in all ways to highlight the brutality that is our every day lived experience in America today. In that way it is like Jonathan Swift’s original essay. Go read it – both links.

This writer and these posts DO NOT EVER advocate and they specifically oppose and reject cruelty, violence, murder, cannibalism, forced labor and other forms of official White House policy savagery. No person, whether or not holding the legal right to be in the United States either temporarily or being a citizen of the United States should be subjected to discrimination of any kind other than for specific, fact-based suspicion of criminality, and then only meted out with proper restraint and with the full due process of law.

** I once again looked up all the numbers presented here and easily found them from reputable sources with a simple search, “What percentage of Americans want .  .  . ” There are many reports on each of these topics, so some variation in the percentages can be found, but none that challenge the meaning of what is presented here.

*** In the wake of every mass shooting (think: Sandy Hook; Parkland; Topps Supermarket; Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest Music Festival; Emanuel AME Church; Tree of Life Synagogue; Tucson-Giffords; etc.) the percentage of Americans who want automatic weapons, large capacity magazines, bump stocks and silencers to be banned goes up to 80-92%.

**** Gallup reports that approval of Congress is roughly 38%. That means that over 6 in 10 Americans disapprove of our Congress. 54 – 60% of us disapprove of the job Trump is doing. Why in the world should we tolerate such horrid job performance? Fire these guys!

***** For those who have forgotten history, John Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth. That was only possible because the Earth isn’t flat. It’s round. Really.

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!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

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

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

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

Click me

JA


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

First They Came


POST 1220

No One Left To Speak

From friend Jay Becker of Refuse Fascism:

[Over] just a few days, here in Chicago, masked, heavily armed federal agents:
.
– fired toxic pepper balls and tear gas at [non-violent] protesters in Broadview;
– shot a woman in Brighton Park;
 – carried out a military style assault on an apartment building housing Black and brown working people in South Shore;
– raided a homeless shelter in Bronzeville;
– marauded through crowds of families on Michigan Avenue, kidnapping those that fit their racial profiling, and more.
.
And this is just in one city. The same scenes are playing out in DC, Memphis, Portland and L.A., and the list of cities Trump wants to use for “military training” grows. And this is just a sample of the civil and human rights trampled on by this fascist regime. Read more here.
.

Lawrence Dietz wrote a stunning piece to put into perspective what is happening in our country. He has given me permission to post his essay here for you. You know the first part.

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”

— c. 1946, Rev. Martin Niemōller, arrested by the Gestapo in 1937

and liberated in 1945

First they came for Latino illegal immigrants, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Latino.

Then they came for the comedians who make fun of them, and I did not speak out — because I was not a comedian.

Then they got an executive order to punish any group they call “terrorist,” including liberal political groups who oppose them — and I did not speak out, because I do not belong to any of those groups.

Next, they can come for me, a geezer who has posted critical social media comments about them — and who will be left to speak for me?

The “they” Niemōller referred to who came and arrested innocent citizens in Germany was the Gestapo. They always arrived in overwhelming numbers of thugs to abuse, terrify and arrest people who had done nothing wrong. Those incarcerated just weren’t fine Aryan specimens, so it was easy to scapegoat and abuse them. That’s a lot like our Latino immigrants today.

And that’s exactly what happened in Chicago last Tuesday.

From Reuters:

U.S. Border Patrol agents deployed to Chicago led a late-night raid on an apartment building this week, rappelling from helicopters onto rooftops and breaking down doors in an operation authorities said targeted gang members but which swept up U.S. citizens and families.

As part of the raid, some U.S. citizens were temporarily detained and children pulled from their beds, according to interviews with residents and news reports. Building hallways were still littered with debris two days later.

Hundreds of agents swarmed the apartment building during the raid on Tuesday, including some rappelling down to the roof from Black Hawk helicopters, according to NewsNation.

One resident, who asked not to be named, reported being made to lie down on the ground by agents during the raid and having his hands zip-tied.

From Prof. Heather Cox Richardson’s post on October 3:

The escalating raids on undocumented immigrants are also running afoul of the law. Tuesday’s raid on an apartment building in Chicago, in which residents, including U.S. citizens, were detained, has galvanized opposition. Today, after reports that children were zip tied, separated from their parents, and detained for several hours .  .  .

Click and read

The goals seem quite clear. First, to rid the country of Black and Brown people. Second, to terrorize the citizenry so we won’t fight back, but instead will obey in advance. It’s all to establish a dictatorship for the benefit of Trump, his sycophants and the fabulously wealthy. That’s called fascism.

Enemies Of The People, Invasion From Within

That’s the terminology that violent, hatred-driven, maniacal dictators use to snuff opposition. Trump has been using it for years. Like all megalomaniacs, he thinks it justifies persecution by making hatred seem patriotic.

And it kills.

In his rambling, often incoherent speech to 800 generals and admirals (link here for the entire tirade) who were pulled from duty from around the world, Trump lied,  “We’re under invasion from within, no different than a foreign enemy.” He said that the US military could use American cities as “training grounds” for troops, as they battle “the enemy from within.”

Trump is right about one thing: we do have an enemy within. It’s Trump and his maniacal army of fanatics. They are systematically dismantling our government for their own benefit and to your detriment.

If you aren’t Black or Brown don’t imagine that you’re safe and will stay that way. Jews, Muslims, Asians and more have long been in Trump’s crosshairs. Not far behind will be Catholics, all native people, Mormons – essentially anyone who isn’t Aryan Christian. When they come for you – and they will come – do you suppose there will be anyone left to speak for you?

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

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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 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.

Don Quixote and You


POST 1219

What Motivates

Likely you’ve heard about the government funding war now being waged between the “just-found-our-cojones” Democrats and the “we don’t give a crap about the people” Republicans. Maybe you’re wondering what kinds of things are about to happen, like Trump saying he’ll fire another 100,000 federal employees, which means he’ll likely do it.

How about cuts to Medicaid? You know, about how we care for “the least” among us? Those draconian cuts are already in the works. Try this from STAT:

Millions of people are set to lose insurance coverage when President Trump’s budget bill — which was signed into law on July 4 and includes work requirements for Medicaid enrollment — goes into effect in 2027. But who are [those who will be required to work to get benefits]? A new study published in JAMA analyzes nationally representative federal survey data to better understand the characteristics of those who are most at risk.

The data included 344 people ages 20 to 64 who worked fewer than 20 hours per week or who were unemployed but won’t be considered exempt from work requirements. Overall, 41% had three or more chronic conditions, and that rose to 66% when looking at those over age 50. More than 20% overall had dyslipidemia, obesity, hypertension, urinary incontinence, depression, or arthritis. The study reaffirms previous research that has found that Medicaid beneficiaries who do not meet work requirements have worse health than the people who do. [emphasis mine-JA]

In other words, our Fourth Reich government has set up a program that specifically targets and harms the very people who most need our help. That oughta beat back waste, fraud and abuse, right MAGAs?

Pity the poor and the sick in red states who voted for this, a government focused on some superior Aryan race. Only the young, healthy and strong need be here. Do you think Trump’s cruelty dispensers will resort to just taking suffering people out back and shooting them? That would save some money.

Sadly, Chuck Schumer and a handful of other Democrats voted in July for that Big Crappy Bill in the delusional spirit of bipartisanship, as if that still exists. And now Hakeem Jeffries tells us that he expects that Republicans will do the right thing about healthcare for Americans. Yes, he really said that.

And these guys are leaders?

It’s long past time for younger, aggressive, nose punching Democrats to step way up. People like Newsome, Pritzker, Walz, Swalwell and Schiff have done some punching and more is needed. We need these people and others to get further out front and lead the way.

While it’s true that our democracy is being stolen, yelling that and waving arms in the air is way too heady and inspires almost nobody but those who are already ardent believers. Esoteric stuff doesn’t motivate. Here’s what does.

Instead of wailing that they’re cutting healthcare from millions of people, say, “You know they hate and despise you because they’re taking everything from you, including all your money, all your safety and Granny’s healthcare.”

Instead of talking about rural hospitals and clinics closing, say, “They’re intentionally bankrupting hundreds of rural hospitals and clinics, including the one near you, which means that they don’t care if you bleed to death from an accident and they don’t care if your pregnancy goes wrong and your baby dies. Maybe you, too.”

Instead of talking about tax cuts for billionaires, say, “They don’t even see you, much less care about you. All they see is more power and money for themselves.”

Those examples are not intended as snark, They are about telling the truth and appealing to voters’ emotions, especially their sense of fairness. Do your senators and representatives, both state and federal, get that? If not, educate them. Now.

From Robert Reich:

As a practical matter, Trump has been illegally shutting down the government since the moment he was sworn in. [emphasis original]

Trump effectively shut down U.S. AID, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. He gave the heave-ho to hundreds of thousands of federal employees, crippling the Department of Education, Centers for Disease Control, Environmental Protection Agency, and Food and Drug Administration.

Former Rep. Tim Ryan

So, for example, as then Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) explained in Congress, the Republican healthcare plan is:

  1. Don’t get sick.
  2. If you get sick, die quickly. It’s cheaper that way.

The same level of non-care for you goes for those other government agencies.

A Little Constitution Clarity

There has been great idiocy spewed over claims of freedom of speech or imaginary violations of freedom of speech, so it’s time for a little refresher. Recall sophomore year in high school.

Isolating the speech part of the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law  .  .  .  abridging the freedom of speech

It’s likely the Founders didn’t like King George III telling them they had to shut up, so they prohibited our new government from continuing such citizen muzzling. Got that? That Amendment is about stopping the government from preventing you from saying what you want to say.

That has no application when you want to rant on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media platform or spew at political parties or to political organizations. The same applies to any newspaper, TV or radio station. Those are privately owned, non-governmental companies and they can cut you off whenever they want to, for any reason or for no reason. It’s their privately owned platform and they can limit who can use them or appear and even what they are allowed to say, as they choose. You have no freedom of speech in a private venue.

That means that nobody’s right of freedom of speech right is violated when they can’t get on TV to blabber their blabber. So, if MSNBC doesn’t want some MAGA flamer to suck up valuable air time, they have no obligation to put said flamer on their feed. Same if some ultra-right podcaster or cable station doesn’t want to showcase AOC.

Our freedom of speech is solely about preventing the government from muzzling you, which is what Trump is trying to do with his abhorrent lawsuits attacking his perceived enemies. Say it with me:

“That’s unconstitutional.”

Reality Check For Windmill Tilters

From my pal FL:

Click me

Like you I have spent my life trying to make a difference, and right now, I feel like Don Quixote, tilting at very dangerous, angry and powerful windmills.

Maybe tomorrow will bring something to be hopeful about.

Perhaps you, too, have had such a Don Quixote moment. Maybe you’re looking for something to make you feel hopeful. This might help.

On October 18 there will be another NO KINGS DAY. Click the map and find out where your democracy loving friends will be and go join them. Bring your sign, your enthusiasm and your red, white and blue self. There will be millions of us across nation making it clear that we ditched a king once before and we’re prepared to do it again.

Click me

My pal FL and I will both be there. We’ll look for you.

About Your Heart, Mr. Quixote

Likely, you remember the murderous attack at the Tree Of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. The folks at the temple have created a traveling message about it. Read about it in this post from Tree of Life Synagogue. It speaks of the power of human compassion and solidarity, even in the face of cruelty and violence.

If you will be in New York any time from October 5 – November 9 you can view the exhibit at

The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

Edmond J. Safra Plaza
36 Battery Place
New York, NY 10280

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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 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.

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JA


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

The Real Charlie Kirk


POST 1217

It is one of our more peculiar behaviors in America. I don’t know if it’s common in other cultures, but it is pervasive here.

When someone dies we only speak of that person in complimentary ways. We never mention the meanness, the cruelty, the bad things done by the departed. I suppose the refraining of speaking ill of the dead hearkens back to some jungle admonition that doing so will lead to becoming the next to die. Just a guess.

This is crazy stuff because when people die their acts of cruelty don’t suddenly vanish as though they didn’t happened.

When Adolph Eichmann at last faced accountability and was executed by the State of Israel, it would have been insanity for acquaintances to eulogize him, saying what a good neighbor he was. He was a genocidal murderer and that didn’t un-happen because he was at last dead.

Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Should we only speak of him as a great party host and a guy who provided employment for young girls wanting to become models or masseuses? Ridiculous. And I don’t think we should do that selective amnesia following Charlie Kirk’s death, either.

Charlie Kirk was a hateful man. Whatever his finer qualities might have been, he stoked hatred and wrapped it in the covers of a Christian bible. He was the guy about whom we were warned by the quotation, “When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”* That’s how Kirk presented himself to spread his infection of hatred to others.

He spoke in ways Jesus would likely have found abhorrent. Check with your pastor on that. Kirk encouraged bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia and more. He spoke in ways that would have gotten him tarred and feathered by our Founders.

Our unhinged far right is crafting him into a martyr for their cause of White supremacy and faux Christianity, They present him as a hapless victim of those who weren’t their truly heartfelt brothers and sisters in hatred, like lefties, Democrats, liberals, protesters, Never Trumpers and others. That deification ignores the reality of Kirk’s hatred.

Fortunately, there’s no need for me to recount his calls to discrimination and domination because there is a rich public record of them. Watch this little compilation and decide for yourself if Kirk is the true red, White and blue Jesus replacement.

For those who have an uncontrollable need to whatabout everything, for those who hear something they don’t like and maniacally have to object that it’s unfairly out of context, let me say from my heart, “Get over yourself.” Watch the video of the little man with a fine intellect, great showman talents and the skills to bring out the great ugliness within our White supremacists, their very worst angels. Then decide if Kirk was a true patriot and a holy warrior and if his death was a messianic moment.

The far right is in an orgy of indignation over the murder, seething with self-righteousness and certain in their holiness and virtue, as they demonize any with the temerity to oppose them. They have next to no facts to support their claims, nor is that lack of facts an impediment to their judgment or a cause to question their blaming. And they must have someone to blame. For them it is a holy war, all praise to the Great Orange Demented One and all honor to the martyr! Nothing kills like a holy war.

To our White supremacists: Should you believe in some justification for Kirk’s deification, please don’t write to me about it. Don’t enter your brain mashing rationalizations in the Comments section below. Just walk away quietly – please, quietly – down the sidewalk, never letting others know of the hatred and violence you harbor and covet. Better yet, get yourself into some anger management program or psychotherapy.

Charlie Kirk didn’t deserve to be murdered. He didn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of political hatred and violence, even though he stoked it with his own words. But Charlie Kirk most definitely deserves our wide-eyed recognition that his being murdered didn’t purify him of his evils and it hasn’t made him a good man. He remains in death the hatred stoker that he was in life.

That’s the real Charlie Kirk.

_____________________________________

New York Times, April 9, 1944

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* That quotation is often attributed to Sinclair Lewis because of the message of his 1935 book, It Can’t Happen Here, or possibly to Huey Long. But the actual source is unknown. Nevertheless, we see today that it is true and accurate.

For more, see the profile by Henry Wallace, FDR’s second vice-president. Click and read his clear explanation from 1944. He knew a lot about fascism, as we were in the last year of the war to defeat fascism when he wrote his essay. He was accurate and correct then and he still is now.

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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.

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