Freedom

Where Are We?


POST 1292

David and Goliath Today

In Timothy Snyder’s recent post, Sky Defense: Bringing it Home, focused on the terrible war in Ukraine and the undefinable courage of that Ukrainian David incrementally slaying the evil Goliath of Russia, he wrote,

By resisting Russia, Ukrainians are defending what is perhaps most basic about decent political life: the idea that people should be who they choose to be, not whom they are forced to become.

I’ve told you many times that the Ukrainians are fighting for freedom as a proxy for all freedom loving people, the list of which includes us. They are standing up to tyranny, to domination of the many by the few. The lesson in that is obvious.

We need to be strong and resolute like the Ukrainians. We don’t have an army shooting at us, but some of our tribe have been killed, like Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Some have been manipulated and horribly abused, like Kilmar Armando Ábrego García. Many have died in American torture prisons and Gestapo-like goons patrol our streets looking for people to abuse and imprison for abuses like not looking Aryan.

But it’s as clear as it can be that this is tyranny of the many – that’s us – by the greedy, cruel, self-focused few. Now is the time – it’s always the time – to decide to be David and stand up and fight the Goliath of Trump/MAGA/billionaire evil.

In the Old Testament, Genesis 22:1, we’re told that God tested Abraham, first calling his name. Abraham answered, “I am here” or “Here I am” or “Here am I.” Terrified though he may have been, he answered the call. So it is with us today.

Our country is calling us. It’s time for us to stand and declare, “I am here.”

Because like the Ukrainians, we should be who we choose to be, not who we’re forced by the fascists to become.

One More Thing

Incompetent Tulsi Gabbard held the job of Director of National Intelligence, DNI, quite incompetently for a year and a quarter. Now she’s gone from that post, but there’s a twist.

In Trump’s first administration he got away with appointing incompetents everywhere by avoiding the Senate “advice and consent” protocol. Instead, he fired Cabinet secretaries and appointed incompetent “acting” replacements, thus once again avoiding the rules that apply to everyone else. Perverting the system is a way of life for him.

Likely you heard that Bill Pulte is his latest “acting” DNI. He has no intelligence, military, diplomatic or bureaucratic experience.  In a word, he is incompetent to be DNI. What qualifies him for that post in Trump’s mind (also in Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s mind, what there is of it) is that Pulte has an unblemished record of being a Trump suck up.

That is what passes for the best and brightest in today’s government.

The time for action is NOW!
Keep standing up,
speaking out
and taking action

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 (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.

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. I am neither offered nor do I accept funding of any type from candidates, online blabbers, organizations with or without any position or opinion or from any other origin other than from my own meager resources.
  5. 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.
  6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  7. Do not look to these posts for “both sides” idiocy. I don’t have life to waste on such foolishness, such disingenuous nonsense and you shouldn’t either. You can find “both sides” misdirection in any cowardly publication. I post what I believe to be true, sarcasm and snark sometimes excepted. I make no pretense nor allow any space for the idiocy of insisting views to be somehow balanced for reporting or opinion presentation fairness, because doing so would be grossly unfair.
  8. If you disagree with anything I write, if you think I’m inappropriately biased, puff up your courage and put it in the Comments section. But see Point #9 below. On the other hand, let’s agree that I, like you, am biased.
  9. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All comments 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 or offensive solely for the opportunity to be offensive. It’s my post, my rules.
  10. We do not sell, give away, lend, share or otherwise allow the disclosure of the identity of our subscribers or of their information. Never have, never will. That should not have to be said, but the times have taught us that the words do need to be declared. At the last, all we can cling to is trust in one another.
  11. 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.

The World’s Best Campaign Message


POST 1291

 

 

CAUTION!

THIS POST CONTAINS THE WORD “ASSHOLE.” IF THAT WORD OFFENDS YOU, YOU’VE ALREADY READ TOO MUCH. STOP READING IMMEDIATELY AND RETURN TO WATCHING ANDY GRIFFITH RERUNS FROM MAYBERRY. BE SURE TO SAY “HI” TO AN’ BEA FOR ME.
Campaign Messages

The Democrats have labored at the speed of slugs to examine and explain their losses in the 2024 election and to produce a report. It only took them 18 months to create a professional looking report that states nearly nothing useful and provides nothing of value for the American people. It is in every way a first cousin to the post mortems the Republicans produced after the 2012 Romney loss, the 2016 Trump victory and the 2022 Republican midterm under-performance. In all cases these self-serving documents are short on accountability and lack of any sense of care for We the People. Their campaign messages only supply us with focus group and poll tested bumper sticker talking points. That’s why nobody reads them or cares what the authors have written.

There is near constant talk now about what Democrats should focus on during this campaign season and it’s almost solely zeroed in on them getting votes. That means that essentially it’s about manipulation of We the Voters. There is nearly no focus on what We the People actually need and want. The good news is that I’m here to supply that direction, aided by my able and clear headed assistant, Rabbi Rami, who I have never met.

Rabbi Rami is a retired rabbi now dispensing clarity you can use. I recommend subscribing to his Substack posts. His offering of June 4 will convince you that I’ve given you good advice. It’s titled Don’t Be An Asshole.

You like it already, right?

Consider the title alone and give thought to the President, senators, congressmen/women, state legislators, appointed apparatchiks, heads of governmental bodies and  all others who present themselves as being of the people, as leaders for we who yearn for honest leadership, but who consistently let us down. Consider how many are flagrant in their self-serving attitude, their sole interest being snatching and grabbing power and scamming cash. Each day they display enhanced performative asshole-ness mastery.

Consider the jerks who, after any mass shooting, send “thoughts and prayers” instead of creating gun safety legislation to prevent at least some of the massacres that are otherwise certain to happen. Check the Gun Violence Archive if for some unfathomable reason you have any doubts as to the certainty of our national bleed outs.

And what about the army of waste, fraud and abuse soldiers who are proudly chopping federal spending by taking food from the mouths of our poor children and food and life saving medicine from desperate people in need of what we can provide cheaply, such that now millions of them have died?

Then there are the WF&A warriors saving money by cutting healthcare from millions of Americans. And the brain damaged people refusing to provide aid to Ukraine as that country fights for freedom everywhere. And the cretins bombing small boats in the Caribbean without the slightest evidence of wrongdoing or effort toward due process.  And they’re locking up random people using a Gestapo-like army of thugs, as though their stupid and cruel flexing of military and police power somehow makes us better, stronger, safer or more enviable. If you think any of that asshole cruelty helps us, you need a reality re-set.

I say these people are assholes and I know you agree with me, because Congress now sports an approval rating of 10%, with 86% of Americans disapproving of the job Congress is doing. That means that you and I think these guys are assholes in the first degree, differentiated not at all from fetid, stinking pond scum.

What if candidates for office were to focus on us and our needs, instead of their own selfish cravings? What if they actually were to care that people are suffering terribly and want to do something about it? What if they somehow were to recognize that the only voters who care about their welfare are their mothers and that the rest of us think they should instead care about our welfare?

Think about all that and more, but first link through to Rabbi Rami’s post and give serious consideration to his report. This stuff is really simple and should be easy to adopt. If you can’t find candidates who can do what Rami recommends, go run for office yourself. Get in the game and rid us of assholes before they steal this entire country from us.

The time for action is NOW!
Keep standing up,
speaking out
and taking action

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 (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.

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. I am neither offered nor do I accept funding of any type from candidates, online blabbers, organizations with or without any position or opinion or from any other origin other than from my own meager resources.
  5. 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.
  6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  7. Do not look to these posts for “both sides” idiocy. I don’t have life to waste on such foolishness, such disingenuous nonsense and you shouldn’t either. You can find “both sides” misdirection in any cowardly publication. I post what I believe to be true, sarcasm and snark sometimes excepted. I make no pretense nor allow any space for the idiocy of insisting views to be somehow balanced for reporting or opinion presentation fairness, because doing so would be grossly unfair.
  8. If you disagree with anything I write, if you think I’m inappropriately biased, puff up your courage and put it in the Comments section. But see Point #9 below. On the other hand, let’s agree that I, like you, am biased.
  9. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All comments 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 or offensive solely for the opportunity to be offensive. It’s my post, my rules.
  10. We do not sell, give away, lend, share or otherwise allow the disclosure of the identity of our subscribers or of their information. Never have, never will. That should not have to be said, but the times have taught us that the words do need to be declared. At the last, all we can cling to is trust in one another.
  11. 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.

American Insanity


POST 1287

From the “Yet Another Insanity” Department

There is a lot of crazy and it’s all around us. We’re dealing with:

an unprovoked, brainlessly started and conducted war where there is no off-ramp

the ongoing destruction of American hegemony

ugly, ugly gerrymandering by White supremacists that is driving us into Jim Crow 2.0 and is condoned by the not-so-Supreme Court

the no-wrongdoing imprisonment of American citizens, legal visitors and more, all to the benefit of for-profit prisons and of hastily recruited, scarcely trained ICE agents

the hollowing out of Americans’ financial security

the Epstein pedophilia, trafficking and the potential Trump involvement in that scandal

a scandalous Justice Department cover up, plus its misuse for Trump’s retributions and more

a deeply compromised FBI and national security system

the ongoing Trump support for Putin, this to the detriment of our allies, especially Ukraine, as its people fight a war for freedom, in which we should be aiding them

the surrendering of this century to Xi and China

the destruction of the post-war compact that has kept the peace for nearly 80 years

The hits just keep on coming because there is an endless, Trump concocted supply of insanity that’s powered by his dementia and his toxic narcissism.

Then There’s The Sneaky Stuff That Slips Below The Radar

From STAT:

An inconspicuous amendment to the 2026 farm bill working its way through Congress would make tobacco farmers eligible for funding from a certain federal aid program that they’ve been excluded from since the federal tobacco program ended more than 20 years ago. It’s not exactly in line with the MAHA goal to lower chronic disease rates in the U.S.

The overall impact of the amendment would be relatively small, “but it amounts to subsidizing a product that kills half a million Americans every year,” according to Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy, a nonprofit attorney.

Wait: we’re subsidizing a crop that kills us and we subsidize the coal industry $3 – 4 BILLION per year, too, but we don’t have money to feed poor kids?

Indeed, FracTracker reports,

Despite claims of free-market competition, the U.S. fossil fuel industry benefits from an estimated $760 BILLION annually through subsidies, tax breaks, and unpriced externalities .  .  . [emphasis added]

Right: We cut off support for renewable energy innovation and production to subsidize the fossil fuel companies of Trump’s buddies, allowing them to clog and overheat our atmosphere to the expanding peril of us all. Theirs is short term thinking that never gets past the limits of a transaction to make a quick buck.

Trump is almost 80. Given that he cares only for his own welfare – he told us that plainly last week – why would he think longer term? Why would he care that storms continue to become more violent, destructive and deadly? He’ll never have to face them.

And so, we bravely charge into the 15th century. Make America Backward Again – MABA!

Hmmm  .  .  .  why don’t our elected officials care enough to stop the insanity and instead take action for We The People?

Just in case this isn’t clear, we are giving three quarters of a trillion dollars every year to support industries that are causing ever-worsening changes that are killing us. We are willfully doing that to ourselves by electing representatives to our representative government to represent us, but who instead are representing themselves and their own short term welfare.

Learned While Researching Something Else

If you don’t subscribe to and support the writings of Steve Sheffey, take a look at his post last Sunday (then subscribe) about the Senate race in Maine. Yes, you should care a lot about it – Steve explains why. I linked through to his “Fine Print.” I like that kind of stuff – have a look at my own below.  In his fine print is a link to Brandolini’s Law: The Bullshit Asymmetry Principle. It is:

Brandolini’s law (also called the bullshit asymmetry principle) states that the amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it. This denotes that it’s usually much easier to speak without regard for the truth, than to prove that what was said is false.

You’ve experienced this often over the past 11 years, as Trump/MAGA/Republican bullshit was sprayed in your face in brain-free bumper sticker format. Then it was refuted by a knowledgeable person in a clear, straightforward explanation. Unfortunately, that refutation was two pages long and nobody ever reads that stuff. And so bullshit hangs in the air. No breeze can waft it away. No plug-in odor eliminator can make it safe to breathe. This is what passes for Republican erudition.

RFK, Jr. Is Protecting Us

The World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of international concern: Ebola. But don’t worry. Even though our brain worm addled director of HHS has slashed to the bone agencies that used to protect us and minimize the effects of such things, those guys gotcha covered.

Who needs experts in public health when we have loads of Ivermectin, a horse treatment recommended by our president. It treats infections caused by parasitic worms. But the Ebola threat has nothing to do with parasites – it’s a virus.

Still, we have Lysol and Clorox bleach that Trump says we can inject. And we can put ultraviolet lights in our bodies. That’s what he said during Covid. Do you suppose those will work against Ebola?

That’s Trump’s America. Sadly, we voted for it.

On the other hand, we can vote for something quite different this November.

As they say in the dugout, “Grab a bat; you’re up!”

A View From Elsewhere

Just in case you’ve wondered whether people in other countries notice the depth of the destruction of our values, our integrity and our national mental health, friend David Houle was vacationing in Europe and sent this pic from Paris. He says these signs are all over places where tourists go.

Kinda cute that even when they’re crude, Parisians are polite.

The time for action is NOW!
Keep standing up,
speaking out
and taking action

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.

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. I am neither offered nor do I accept or receive funding of any type from candidates, online blabbers, organizations with or without any position or opinion or from any other origin other than from my own meager resources.
  5. 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.
  6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  7. Do not look to these posts for “both sides” idiocy. I don’t have life to waste on such foolishness. such disingenuous nonsense. You can find that in any cowardly publication. I post what I believe and what I believe to be true, sarcasm and snark excepted, and make no pretense of idiocy requiring to be somehow balanced for reporting or opinion presentation fairness.
  8. If you disagree with anything I write, if you think I’m inappropriately biased, puff up your courage and put it in the Comments section. See Point #9 below. On the other hand, let’s agree that I, like you, am biased.
  9. 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. It’s my post, my rules.
  10. 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.

Madmen


POST 1277

Click me for a larger version of this pic, plus the Reuters essay.

Jesus Isn’t Just On our Side: He Is Our Side

April 13 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure .  .  .

Note the inclusion in this picture of the American flag, jet fighters, a heavily armed winged figure in combat fatigues with a spiked thing on his head. There are several other troops, all heavily loaded with weapons, a pair of bald eagles, the Statue of Liberty, two colonnaded buildings denoting government power – all very strongly manly, and – this is critical – only White people.

It appears that Trump-Jesus holds a divine light. Perhaps it’s the core of a nuclear explosion. He is laying his other hand over the head of an apparently wounded vet, perhaps to cure him by a miracle. All this takes place as a beautiful White female nurse looks up at him adoringly, perhaps eagerly anticipating his Access Hollywood pussy grab.

He’s been roundly criticized for this post by rational people, which Trump knows is so unfair to him. So, Trump went on the offense, attacking those who criticized his self-anointed divinity.

It’s easy to stop thinking about this in a logical fashion due to its obvious repugnance. But here’s the key: It wasn’t posted by some anonymous but creative and stupid twit whose brain hasn’t developed past age 15 and who doesn’t understand the concept of consequences or anything beyond his own need for attention. It was posted by Trump himself.

Okay, let’s be fair. Trump is that twit whose brain hasn’t developed past age 15 and who doesn’t understand the concept of consequences or that there is anything larger than himself.

Trump is the President of the United States whose finger is poised over the nuclear button and who seems to think he’s a god. Or wants to be a god. Or wants to have powers like a god, like life and death. Or he wants you to think of him as a god and worship him. He is naturally averse to self-examination, but he might recognize that he’s slipping fast and needs your worship of him very quickly, before he’s unable to bask in it.

If he pushes the button in a fit of retribution frenzy, like in a rage focused on Iran, it’s no problem for him. As throughout his entire life, he will be protected and never held to account. If the rest of us die, it’s of no consequence to him.

And that becomes yet more terrifyingly possible as Trump sinks ever deeper into dementia and is even less tethered to the day of the week.

The people who could stop this madness, this abuse of morality, of good sense, of the Constitution and the rule of law – they sit mute. They fawn over him and encourage him to do another wondrous miracle so they can cheer and clap their hands and swoon over him like infantile forest animals in a fairy tale.

Read Rick Wilson’s post from yesterday, Is Trump The Anti-Christ? and coverage from The Washington Post.

Living In The Age of Wimp

This is from a post by Ted Dintersmith, April 13, 2026, likening us to passengers trapped on a bus going at breakneck speed on a path to blow itself up.

Today, our entire nation is on an out-of-control bus. A madman is at the wheel, assuring us he’s history’s all-time greatest bus driver. He barks ludicrous tweets into the phone in his left hand. In his right hand [are] the nuclear codes. His knees do the steering. Front-seat passengers could intervene, but those seats are filled with sycophants who prize their proximity. Sheer horror, with years ahead of us. So how will this bus ride end? Bankruptcy? World War III? A full-fledged dictatorship? All of the above?

You don’t think that we can avoid our own disintegration sync-ed with Trump’s dementia-driven disintegration by sitting on our hands, do you? You don’t think that some wimpy Republican has the cojones to break the glass on the 25th Amendment or file impeachment charges, do you?

We are living in the Age of Wimp. The self-paralyzed ones are madmen endangering us every day.

The key is for us, you and me and others willing to see things as they are, to understand the danger all around us and to refuse to tolerate the Wimps in their madness. The key is for us to fight them everywhere.

On June 4, 1940, shortly before the fall of France and just after the disastrous British retreat from Dunkirk, Winston Churchill challenged the House of Commons with a declaration of defiance. His words ring true and valuable for us today.

We shall fight on the beaches,
We shall fight on the landing grounds,
We shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
We shall fight in the hills;
We shall never surrender.

Link through to read Churchill’s full address.

Our fight today is nearly as dire. We know the truth and that is why this is dire. So,

We shall fight the Wimps in the Congress.
We shall fight them in the state legislatures.
We shall fight them in the fields, in the streets and in the town square.
We shall fight them in the courts and in the polling places.
We shall never surrender

And in the end we will be victorious. We will save our fragile democracy from their cowardice and their malice.

For inspiration, think of the glorious and righteous prosecutions to come of those who sold out our country for a few coins in their pockets.

Here’s what we can do now.

Keeping The Promise

Last Sunday I promised you some direction for how you can fight the menace. Here it is.

Reader and activist Sheila Markin is making your next step easy. Take clarity of action from this. She writes,

TRUMP AND MAGA REPUBLICANS KNOW THEY CANNOT WIN FAIR AND SQUARE. 

THEY ARE GOING TO LIE, CHEAT, AND STEAL

to stay in power.  

They already are.

We must do 4 things:

Click the logo pic above to find out what the 4 things are. Also, see this.

The time for action is NOW!
Keep standing up,
speaking out
and taking action, like:

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.

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.

Headlines Plus NO KINGS Pics


POST 1272

Headlines
.
.
U.S. Worker Thriving Declines as Job Market Pessimism Grows:
Over half of employees are seeking or watching for new jobs, even as most [72%] say it is a bad time to find one. – Gallup, March 24, 2026
.
‘I feel betrayed’: Trump is losing young voters over Iran, economy – The Washington Post, March 16, 2026
. 
.
Zelenskyy Offers to be Temp US President While Trump Undergoes Psychiatric Evaluation– The Borowitz Report, March 31, 2026
.

In these most troubled times, we need an injection of humor regularly.

NO KINGS – Pass In Review!

As you review these pics of signs at NO KINGS demonstrations and marvel at people’s creativity, note, too, that the signs this time were edgier than at the demonstrations last year. Read that as you will, but I’m seeing greater anger and frustration. We’ve had way too much of Trump’s cheating, lying, war-ing, cover-ups, lawlessness, betrayal and dementia,* as well as the cowardice of Republicans in Congress.

 

Actually, WE are our only hope. But I really like the sign!

________________________________________________________

Click me

* “We’re in a hell of a lot of trouble. Us, America, but the world is in a lot of trouble because the most powerful man in the world is both evil and demented.” – Psychologist Dr John Gartner. Click here and watch his clear explanation.

Many thanks to MZ for pointing me to this interview.

The time for action is NOW!
Keep standing up,
speaking out
and taking action, like:

– Register voters

– Give to the ACLU

– Train to fight ICE

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.

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.

Get Up! Stand Up!


POST 1270

It is NO KINGS Day, 3-28-26. Look at the map. There are over 3,300 events and they are all over this country. There are even NO KINGS events in Kenya, Ecuador and all over Europe.

This is a worldwide declaration by

We The People

.

that we don’t want – we reject, we refuse – any king or monarch or authoritarian or dictator and the wannabees, too.

This isn’t just about Trump. We refuse the next power grabbing freedom thief too.

Wherever you are there is a gathering of people just like you, people who know that “enough is enough” doesn’t come close to the real message:

Any at all is too much!

.
Right now is the time. Click on the map and choose a location close by.
.

Be part of the biggest, most fundamentally just and morally right declaration for freedom from tyrants that has ever been.

GET UP! STAND UP! LIFT UP YOUR VOICE FOR FREEDOM!
.

Your children, your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren will ask you where you were on this great day. Tell them,

I was on the street.

I was in the park.

I was in front of city hall and I was standing on the steps of the Capitol Building.

I was marching in front of the White House.

I was at the bay.

I was in the desert.

I was in the mountains.

I was on the vast plains.

On that great day I was where you needed me to be.

I demanded freedom for you.

I demanded justice for you.

I and millions of my freedom loving friends stood up, in community, for you.

We roared as with one voice:

NO KINGS!

NO KINGS!

NO KINGS!

.
RIGHT NOW – click the map and pick a venue. Then put on your marching shoes and head out to make your call for freedom heard.
.
This is the place. This is the moment.
.

GET UP! STAND UP!

Time for action is dwindling

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

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

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.

The Rush To War And, Of Course, Money


POST 1266

This is an unusual day/time for letting you know about a new Disambiguation. It’s part of some good news, which is .  .  .

My web geeks tell me that they’ve fixed the spam inundation, which means that you can now enter your comments without getting the third degree from Captcha. So, speak!

The U.S. Stampede To War

A piece published in Dispatches from the Atlantic Council entitled Before striking Iran, Trump should answer these six questions explores what our bottomlessly ignorant President and State Department should have done before launching this illegal war. The questions are here, with my answers following them.

Questions and Answers

Q1: What is the objective of [this] military campaign?

First, foremost, middle and last, to distract from the Epstein case.

As to the military objective, nobody knows. It’s a vast cluelessness, callousness and official incompetence surrounded by tough guy posturing. See this sample of the White House videos.

Q2: What might Iran do in response?

There is no evidence that this was considered. But by now we know about their missile and drone strikes and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. You don’t suppose they might try some terrorist stuff, do you? Explosions? Cyber terrorism? Proxy uprisings?

Q3: Will Trump face any consequences this time around?

Oh, please, please, please.

Q4: [Wa]s there a feasible diplomatic off-ramp prior to conflict?

Yes, given that Iran posed no threat to the U.S. But Trump was too excited about looking like a tough guy flexing U.S. military muscle to bother with little impediments like diplomacy. Plus, there;s that wagging of the dog thing.

Q5: How will the Iranian people respond to a military campaign?

They will die and death will come from our bombs, missiles and drones.

Q6: What role will US regional partners play?

They will be targets for Iranian missiles and drones. They won’t lift a finger to help the war effort, nor will any U.S. ally.

We can add more questions, like:

Jax Q & A

Q7: What is the end game – the off ramp for ending this war?

There is none. Trump says bombing will stop “when I feel it, OK, feel it in my bones.” Yes, he said that.

Q8: Now that we’ve broken things, we own them, per the Pottery Barn rule as taught to us by Gen. Colin Powell. What are we prepared to do with the broken mess we’ve created?

Nothing. We will just turn our back to the suffering we’ve created. Think: Vietnam; Iraq; Libya; Syria; Afghanistan; Yemen; Somalia; Nigeria; Venezuela.

Q9: How will we repair relationships with the countries in the region that have suffered from Iranian bombardment, triggered by our display of our manly manliness?

Trump will tell them that nobody has ever seen anything like the rebuilding we’ll do. Then he will accept their bribes, which they will give, hoping for assistance. He will pocket the money and do nothing to help them.

Q10. How many dead American military is too many?

There is no number high enough to deter Trump from his Epstein distraction.

There is so much that should have been done way in advance of any hostilities at the direction of smart, wise experts in international affairs. But those people have been forced out of government service and replaced either by nobody, leaving us empty of expertise, or by know nothings and people who think war is a bar room video game.

Now the question is how we can get out of this mess. Trump will reject any solution that won’t leave him looking like a hero, the  likes of which nobody’s ever seen before, and keep us distracted from the Epstein criminal participants. Got any ideas?

Follow What?

After being forced out of office by the exposure of his criminality in the Watergate crimes, Nixon returned to his home in California and never admitted to any wrongdoing. Indeed, in an interview with David Frost in 1977 he defended himself, arrogantly declaring,”When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.” That was an echo of the long dead divine right of kings and a precursor to the divine right of Trump, a vicious Supreme Court perversion of our Constitution.

The advice to Woodward and Bernstein for investigating Watergate was, “Follow the money.” We can do that now to understand Trump’s illegal war against Iran.

Who benefits monetarily? The easiest way to think about that is to consider who benefits from greatly increased oil prices.

The U.S. is energy independent. The Straight of Hormuz may be blocked and 20% of the world’s oil supply may be choked off, but that doesn’t affect supplies here. The cost to produce a gallon of gas or diesel fuel has not increased a bit, but still the prices at the pump continue to rise.

You’re the loser because you are funding the expanding profits of oil companies. Watch those quarterly reports for confirmation. Trump’s billionaire friends thank you.

Who else benefits from this war? Certainly, the manufacturers of war matériel receive enormous contracts to replace our fabulously expensive drones, missiles, rockets, bullets, that refueling airplane that crashed and killed 6 of our people and yet more. Betcha those billionaire friends of Trump are sending him messages with hugs and kisses emojis.

How about Saudi Arabia? They hate the Iranians. They’re in a centuries old battle of Sunni/Shia, each side certain that Allah is on their side and the other side is a horde of horribles, which may actually be true in both directions. Betcha the Saudis are content to have Trump do the dirty work of pounding Iran. They just might be paying Trump handsomely for him to be their bounty hunter. Watch for more billions to be given to Jared Kushner.

Russia has gained a windfall of over $6 billion due to Trump releasing Russia from oil sanctions. How come Putin gains huge whenever Trump acts?

You get the idea. This war was a money con long before a shot was fired. We’ve been given bottomlessly stupid explanations for the reason for our attack, including that Trump “had a feeling” that the Iranians might possibly do something or other. We’ve been given a long string of implausible goals for this war with no consistency coming from the idio-scenti.*

Pay no attention to our over 200 mangled troops dumped into VA hospitals or the now 13 flag draped coffins that have arrived at Dover AFB. Hey, our President told us with a yawn that people die in war, you know?

And he calls them suckers and losers.

Ultimately, it’s simple: follow the money. But DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT be distracted from the Epstein case and Trump’s involvement.

I’m Not So Sure

Likely, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen, was unglued because he had lost four family members to an Israeli bombing in Lebanon last week. So, he did what any of us would do. He strapped on his rifle, mounted his explosives filled vehicle and rammed it into a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

In the aftermath of each of our unceasing episodes of religious and racial violence we regularly hear calls to our “shared humanity.” I’m not so sure that we have a shared humanity, except in a genetics sense. When someone is moved to violence against others, is that person’s humanity displaced or perhaps destroyed by uncontrollable rage? Did the killer of eleven at Tree Of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh share our humanity? It looked to me more like he was sharing his rage and his full magazines of bullets. Same at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston where nine were murdered. Same when ten were murdered at the Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo. Do we have a shared humanity with those murderers? I’m not feeling it.

Right now I’m not much in the mood to understand those who want to get their way by means of murder. There just isn’t much detectable humanity in them.

Come to think of it, that’s a lot like Trump jamming our military into where it doesn’t belong, getting his way by means of murder.

Spare me the calls to shared humanity.

Make Your Voice Heard

Click here to find a No Kings rally near you. Then show up on March 28.

The cure for hopelessness is action.

_________________________________________

* Cognoscenti – “people who are considered to be especially well informed about a particular subject.” My made-up idio-scenti is the opposite of that and is well displayed in this government.

  • Time for action is dwindling

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

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

    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.

For us To Win


POST 1259

“For Us To Win”

I keep hearing Democrats using that phrase regarding the upcoming elections. Lawmakers, candidates, influencers, liberal podcasters, bloviators and more talk about what Democrats need to do to persuade voters. What they need in order to get elected. Here’s the problem.

We The People don’t give a damn about those Democrats.

We care about our lives, our safety and our freedom. We care if there is equal justice under law for all, so that rich guys, elite guys and brutal cruelty dispensers get what they’re due. We care that the lawless, criminal ICE thugs are prosecuted and that lying, self-serving officials are prosecuted for their reprehensible and often illegal, un-constitutional behavior.

We care that Epstein’s buddies, the abusers, pedophiles and sex traffickers of girls, some of them little girls as young as 9 years old, get skewered by an aggressive Department of Justice that actually does its job. And I don’t mean their job of sucking up to Trump.

There is little as abhorrent as children being violated. Even MAGAs are all in on getting the perps. And they’re angry as hell that Trump lied to them, promising to make the evidence of those crimes public and then doing everything he can to keep the evidence from them, to cover up the wrongdoing. Still, millions of them stand with the felon.

We know what “fair” means, and what we see is so blatantly unfair and offensive to our values that we want things set right. Finger pointing doesn’t get the job done and neither do toothless bromides like, “We must,” blah, blah, blah.

We care if we can afford to feed our families, provide healthcare and keep the house warm in winter. We care about saving our democracy, too, but that’s a rather esoteric thing, so for some it isn’t a compelling argument to get out and vote – except for those voters already feeling the violations of their citizenship, like the citizens of Minneapolis and others around the country who care and show up to protest.

Voting for Democrats carries the implication of voting against Trump and his criminality and cruelty and that’s good. There are lots of us who find that motivating. In fact, much of the anticipation for a blue wave in November is not about electing Democrats, but about defeating Trump. Just watch what happens on March 28 for the next No Kings rally. And do more than watch. Show up! Speak up! You’ll see unlimited energy for deposing the tyrant.

So please, Democrat promoters, stop telling us what you need – donations – and whatever you think will tweak us to send more. We might like some of you, but honestly we’re not at all about you. We’re about us.

We care about We The People. Focus on that, on what we need, not what you need. Perhaps then we’ll listen and maybe donate – after you’ve listened to us. Then we just might show up on November 3rd, vote for Democrats and make a blue wave.

Your Wednesday Assignment

Read Andy Borowitz’s post of February 18, Will Pam Bondi Go to Prison? This is a well reasoned examination of our abhorrent Attorney General. And it will remind you, too, of other felonious incidents and perps that we must prosecute as we move forward to save our freedoms and as we continue to insist upon justice for all.

Quote Of The Week

Speaking to coal workers at the Champion of Coal meeting at the White House last week to accept a childishly made up award, your president broke news, saying,

“I’m proud to officially name the .  .  . undeshibly dishowen .  .  . when did this come out, Mr. Speaker .  .  .”

That is neither snark nor satire. It’s an accurate representation of Trump’s gibberish-speak. Some people are saying that someone must have implanted unintelligence nodules into his brain by blending them into his Big Macs. Or perhaps there is something degenerative going on.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle boasted – and this is word for word what he said:

“President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history.”

A confidential source inside the White House who understands Trump’s gibberish-speak explained that “The President takes daily shushems, eats organanic frendoom and garglesh fifadon eshtrank to stay ready for the world schtage.” When asked if President Trump is suffering from dementia, the source reported that Trump doesn’t seem to notice it.

  • Time for action is dwindling

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

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

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

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

    Click me

    JA


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

History


POST 1257

 

 

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

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

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

Analysis Using Our 3rd Grade Math Skills

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

OVER 86% OF THE PEOPLE

DETAINED BY ICE

ARE INNOCENT

OF ANY CRIMINALITY.

BY DEFINITION THEY AREN’T THE

“WORST OF THE WORST”.

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

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

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

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

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

Killed On The Street In Just The Past 3 Months:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ismael Ayala Uribe: Died September 22, 2025.

Oscar Duarte Rascon: Died September 8, 2025.

Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas: Died August 31, 2025.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quick Quiz

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

Questions:

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

Answers:

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

_________________________________________

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

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

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

  • Time for action is dwindling

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

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

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

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

    Click me

    JA


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

What Is Actually Happening Today


POST 1254

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Historical precedent

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

WATCH WHAT WE SAY!?

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

Now

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

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

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

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

A. Everything

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

Duplicitous

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

From The Onion

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

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

This is yet another example of Trump as democracy destroyer.

Tom Homan, Border Bastard

From Mother Jones:

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

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

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

Quote Of The Month

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

“The national emergency is avoiding a national emergency.”

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

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

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

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

It Isn’t New, But It’s Just As Ugly

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

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

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

Song of the Month

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

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

We are endowed with .  .  .

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

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

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

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

Now, tell me you’re seeing what is actually happening today.
  • 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 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.

1 2 3 … 37  Scroll to top