Patriotism

Special Friday Post


POST 1310

No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings. We Decide.

Tomorrow there are special No Kings: Vote Early rallies all over our country. These rallies aren’t only to make a statement and be with others who actually support the Constitution. These are about making the difference that will begin to create the change we want to see.

From the website:

For over a year, millions of people have come together to send a clear message: in America, we have no kings. Power does not belong to billionaires, strongmen, or politicians who believe they are above accountability.

Power belongs to the people, but only if we use it.
.

So, click on the map below, enter your ZIP code to find a rally near you, register and then show up. Don’t want to register? That’s okay. Just show up and together we’ll raise the voting action flag for all to see, salute and follow.

Why Vote Early?
.
So that your vote will be counted before Trump finds yet another slimy way to kill your vote, steal yet another freedom and disempower you.
.
.
The Nuts and Bolts For Voting

Here’s a link that shows the early voting dates for all 50 states.

Here’s a link to check your voting registration. Here’s another.

Here’s a link to find your polling/voting place.

Here’s a link for absentee or mail-in ballot procedures for all 50 states.

Freedom of assembly (peaceful demonstrations and protests) and the right to vote are USE IT OR LOSE IT things. A casual attitude toward either is the same as surrender to the tyrants.

So, attend your rally tomorrow and then VOTE!

This is going to take hundreds of millions of us, so pass this post along to your peeps.
RIGHT NOW!
.

More on threats to your freedoms in this Sunday’s post, What’s Most Important – V2.0.

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 material.
  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 and of no value.
  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 someone taking 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.

What’s Most Important – V1.0


POST 1309
Historical Context

Our fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers risked their lives and nearly half a million of them died to make sure we would never, ever live under the cruel heel of a vampire fascist dictator’s boot. Turns out it’s very hard to make the fascist vampire stay dead.

Once again that monster is somehow rising, sucking the life blood from us and our country. Our fathers and grandparents can no long answer the call, so it falls to us to put a stake in that vampire’s chest – again.

The Threat

AI Overview – with JA comments in [brackets].

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology that prioritizes the nation—and often a specific race [of people]—above individual rights. [1, 2]

Core Characteristics:

Dictatorial Leadership: [all p]ower rests in a single autocratic leader with a strong cult of personality.

Extreme Nationalism: Unquestioning loyalty to the state is demanded, often relying on a mythic [never happened] past or a sense of national rebirth. [plus unquestioning loyalty to the cult leader, who is indistinguishable from the state.]

Suppression of Opposition: Democratic liberties, pluralism, and free speech are abolished, and opposition is forcibly silenced using violence and secret police. [Think: charging innocent people with crimes, forcing people from their jobs, terrorizing the opposition, sending secret police to arrest and deport innocent citizens and legal residents, etc.]

Militarism and Violence: Military strength is glorified, and violence is viewed as an acceptable or purifying tool to achieve national goals. [think: toxic masculinity]

Social Hierarchy: Believes in natural social hierarchies and the dominance of a privileged group over marginalized populations or designated scapegoats.

Does any of that feel foreboding and, worse, now ordinary? That’s the call to action that’s screaming in your heart.

Perhaps the term fascism feels too extreme to you (but read Fascist. Full Stop). Okay, then call it authoritarianism or dictatorship. They aren’t exactly the same thing, but for the purpose of recognizing the existential threat to all of us, any of those terms will do.

See this video and read this post.

Also see Gone in 90 seconds: an ‘invisibilized’ ICE is arresting more people than ever.

This Election Is About

Each Sunday through November 1 we’ll post what you or pundits or candidates say this election is about. This week’s notion is from reader Kirk Landers and is about his frustration with our electorate at this existential moment.

This election, as always, is about how the vast army of ignorant, unaware American citizens feel about their personal finances, and who they decide to blame or credit based entirely on superficial input, such as what their friends are saying on social media.

That’s valuable insight, considering we are faced with looming dictatorial rule, the loss of our rights and freedoms and the theft of our national and personal wealth, as people make their voting choices based on the cost of a gallon of gasoline or diesel.

Put your idea about this election in the Comments section below.

Pop Quiz
Question: How do you tolerate what’s being done to our country?
.
Answer: You don’t.
.

The authoritarian threat and the imperative to act are

What Is Most Important.

.

Next Sunday: What’s Most Important – V2.0, detailing specific threats.

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 material.
  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 and of no value.
  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 someone taking 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.

Now You Know-V2.0*


POST 1297

Trump’s speech last Thursday was a collection of lies that eclipsed all such collections ever assembled anywhere in the world – like nothing you’ve ever seen. Except .  .  . you hear his lies, idiotic claims of victimhood, fear mongering and demands for retribution every time he speaks, so it isn’t like nothing you’ve ever seen. It’s exactly what you’ve seen for 11 years, although to be fair, this rant was amped up beyond his normal cartoon bobblehead absurdity. You can be forgiven for changing channels in protection of your mental health and stability and missing the entire episode of Not So Stable Genius.

That’s what the news stations did. But I digress from the main point, which is what we now know.

After his blustering about imaginary successes, false claims about the economy, the Iran war and that we are “the hottest country in the world,” whatever that means, along with other mouth dribbles the meaning of which is totally opaque, he focused on election fraud as his justification for the SAVE America Act.

He says our voting circumstances are bad – very bad, and still he offers no evidence, much less proof of his claims. Millions of illegal immigrants, non-citizens, are voting, he says. Voting machines are switching votes to be against him, China is controlling our elections, Democrats are rigging voting and “mail-in ballots are inherently corrupt.” He urged viewers to fact check his data at WhiteHouse.gov, but all the justification he said is there is either fully redacted, missing or the opposite of what he claims.

His completely unjustified claims of voting fraud are the flaccid muscle for his demanding that Congress pass his SAVE America Act.

Trump said it in the final seconds of his tantrum (read the full text here):

To all Americans, I ask you to pick up your phone tomorrow, call your Representatives in the House and Senate and demand that they pass the SAVE America Act without delay.

Congressional bills are often named to make them palatable to the voting public, festooned with patriotic sounding names and plain language puffery. For example, George W. Bush had his Patriot Act, which we later learned was horribly anti-patriotic. Trump’s SAVE America Act is actually a voting suppression proposal designed to stop from voting everyone who might vote contrary to Trump. It is a way to activate the many decades long Republican efforts to deny the right to vote of anyone who might vote for Democrats. It doesn’t, it can’t and it won’t save America.

It would fly in the face of the Constitution, taking control of elections from the states and plopping it in the lap of the fat occupant in the White House. That is all it would take to end our democracy, effectively ending the United States of America. There would be no saving of America.

We would become something else altogether. Maybe school children would be taught to sing Trumpland Über Alles and we’d Make Slavery Great Again. Whippings and lynchings would once again feed the MAGA-brain blood thirst and ICE would fire bullets through every car window.

Without a scintilla of doubt the election this November is about just one thing:

It is a battle that pits We The People, our Constitution and our democracy
against the forces of despotic evil.
.

Trump has laid it all out with his pompous demand that he never be held to account for anything, anywhere, any time and his lap dog Supreme Court has made it so. His blatant grab for authoritarian power is in plain sight for everyone to see. No more hiding the ball. No more chiseling at the edges of destruction. It’s an in-your-face dismantling and swindling of our entire country.

You know the kinds of things Trump does and he is now desperate. Don’t be surprised if he declares some phony emergency and uses that to alter, postpone or cancel the November election. Trump laid it out for you in his special brain addled way.

In case you didn’t know before now, now you know.

Our existential charge is to Stop Hateful Idiocy Today. You work out the acronym.

Quote Of The Week

“Americans Favor Work Requirements for Members of Congress.” – Andy Borowitz

___________________________________________

* Here’s a link to the original Now You Know post, from which the closing line of this post was taken.

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 material.
  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 and of no value.
  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 someone taking 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.

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.

Memorial Day 2026


POST 1072 / 1288

Tomorrow Is Memorial Day

This essay was originally posted on Memorial Day, 2012, with wars raging in Iraq and Afghanistan, promoted by the beat of politicians thumping chests and spraying lies.

Today we’re in an unwinnable war against Iran through just as much pointless, homicidal bravado as before. Yes, we’re still sending our young off to kill and to be killed for no patriotic or security reason.

There’s a question embedded throughout the song Where Have All The Flowers Gone? It is, “When will they ever learn?” Clearly, the answer is: never. Because we refuse to learn.

This is offered today (with some updating) as a reminder of what this holiday – this holy day – is actually about.

Arlington CemetaryOur War Dead

It was originally called Decoration Day, a formal day of remembrance of the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. The refreshing of their graves with flowers and flags was the order of the day and it was later extended to all Civil War dead. It became known as Memorial Day in 1967 and was declared to be in honor of our dead from all of our wars, over 1.3 million of us. That federal re-naming packaged all of the various honoring ceremonies for our war dead and all the individual traditions practiced around the country into a neater package, something that apparently was important in 1967. In addition, the date of remembrance was shifted from May 30 to the last Monday in May so that there would always be that critical 3-day weekend, also apparently of great importance in 1967, however well it misses the point.

We no longer conscript our young into military service and instead rely upon a voluntary corps of warriors, with roughly 0.4% of Americans doing frightful tasks for the rest of us. Military service and its risks seem remote at best to most of us.

Then we see a soldier in desert fatigues walking through the airport, his boots the color of desert sand, his heavy camouflage backpack hung from his shoulders, and we know he’s either on his way to or from trouble and war becomes a bit more real to us. It’s already quite real to that GI.

Study this picture and you’ll understand the meaning of Memorial Day. Source unknown

Memorial Day is not for that soldier. It is for those who have died doing their duty to protect and defend our country. What is poignant is that that soldier in the airport might be one of those whom we remember next year.

Memorial Day is intended to be a somber event. It is not about parades to entertain us with patriotic sounding music, nor about political clowns promoting themselves. It is about the renewal of our individual and collective memory and the honoring of those who can no longer march in our parades. We do this in earnest, lest we forget them.

Read Longfellow’s poem aloud.

Decoration Day
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, pub. 1882
.
Sleep, comrades, sleep and rest
On this Field of the Grounded Arms,
Where foes no more molest,
Nor sentry’s shot alarms!
.
Ye have slept on the ground before,
And started to your feet
At the cannon’s sudden roar,
Or the drum’s redoubling beat.
.
But in this camp of Death
No sound your slumber breaks;
Here is no fevered breath,
No wound that bleeds and aches.
.
All is repose and peace,
Untrampled lies the sod;
The shouts of battle cease,
It is the Truce of God!
.
Rest, comrades, rest and sleep!
The thoughts of men shall be
As sentinels to keep
Your rest from danger free.
.
Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours.
.
Go To Your Local Memorial Day Ceremonies Tomorrow

It’s okay to buy the new mattress, the set of tires and any of the rest of the stuff offered during Memorial Day sales. But that isn’t the point of the day.

Let yourself be transported even for just a few moments of gratitude to be beside those who sacrificed everything, Remember and honor our fallen ones and say “Thank you.” Because they remembered: Duty, Honor, Country.

Watch this short video from Adam Kinzinger. I know you’ll understand his message.

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 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. 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.

Fourth Reich and Moronica


POST 1261

 

SOTU

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

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

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

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

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

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

Revisiting The Moronica Awards

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

The Update

In that post I wrote,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now the reminder.

There is good news and there is bad news.

Yoda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May The Vote be with us!
Trump Truth

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

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

  • 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.

ICE!


POST 1252

BREAKING NEWS!

Minneapolis, MN, Saturday, January 24, 2026:

Border Patrol Commander and SS Murder UberFührer Greg Bovino. He really does shave the sides of his head like a Nazi and wear a Nazi SS style long coat. Our murdering ICE thugs look to him for leadership.

37-year-old Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital, was shot and killed by ICE thugs yesterday. They had been sitting on him, punching him and trying to hog tie him. Then they shot and killed him. Reportedly, 10 shots were fired into his body.

Within 15 minutes of the shooting administration officials claimed that Pretti had a gun and was trying to shoot ICE agents. Actually, he had a phone. The administration slandered him, calling him a terrorist.

You may believe that prepared gaslighting (“the opponent of the state deserved it.”) and the rest of the administration’s victim demonization lies and their exoneration of the shooter, as you wish. Just keep in mind that before being murdered by an ICE thug 18 days ago, many videos show that Renee Nicole Good was slowly driving away from him. The administration deniers of what was plain for all of us to see claimed she was trying to “run him over.” But cars don’t go sideways, so their stupid excuse wasn’t even physically possible. They and their abhorrent gaslighting only serve to undermine trust in our country and in our democracy.

Regardless of the specifics of the shooting yesterday or that of Renee Good or what anyone says about either murder, there would have been no shooting at all and no one would have been harmed if weak-of-mind ICE Gestapo thugs hadn’t been in Minnesota to stoke fear and anger and to stomp on the rights of Americans.

This is fascism in America.
.
Join ICE!

Perhaps you clicked through the pic to the left in my January 4 post and listen to Jesse Welles’ excellent rip on ICE. It’s a fun piece, a cause of outrage and a fine dose of confirmation bias all at the same time. But it’s nothing compared to what’s on the ICE website.

Click the link to the ICE home page in the pic on the right. The most important thing to note there and on the entire site, really, is the call to patriotism through the demonization and persecution of immigrants. Apparently, our patriotism now calls on us to rip people out of their cars, throw them to the ground, zip tie and rendition them to black sites. Or kill them. It’s in the sentences you can’t read at the bottom of the pic. Here’s what they say:

America has been invaded by criminals and predators.
We need YOU to get them out.
.

That declares in no uncertain words the core, the focus, the raison d’être, the foundational, primary lies of ICE, Kristi Noem and Trump. Indeed, it’s an impressive pack of bullsh*t propaganda in just two manipulative sentences. You know that with Trump, if his lips are moving, he’s lying. Same for ICE.

  1. America has not been invaded. There never were any caravans. There is no immigrant army. There is no invasion. There is nothing to defend against.
  2. Every study shows that immigrants, whether legal or not, do crime far less often than American citizens. Think about it: they know that they have to stay off the radar of law enforcement. Otherwise, they’ll be sent back to the miserable conditions they left for a better life here – much like your ancestors. They may be immigrants, but they aren’t fools. So, most work hard at honest jobs and don’t do crime.
  3. Apparently, the ICE idiots think being a predator is different than being a criminal, so they have to list both words. Okay, but there is no – i.e. zero – data to support any claim that immigrants, whether legal or not, are predators. That word is used solely to inflame and motivate potential recruits; i.e. ICE thugs. ICE has no need for the presence of truth.
  4. It says, “AMERICA NEEDS YOU.” Apparently, they learned rules of capitalization from Trump. The small print says, “We need YOU to get them out,” but actually we don’t. This country doesn’t need ethnic cleansing and economic studies show that we need more, not fewer, immigrants. Of course, Trump wants all immigrants to come from Norway because they’re very White. At least he did before it was clear that he wasn’t going to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize. Plus, the Norwegians don’t want to put up with our Trumpy American crap, so they aren’t coming.

This ICE website has a pretty good appeal to Americans who love their country and haven’t the brain power to see the lies in those sentences. ICE tells them that by signing up they’ll feel special, probably for the first time in their lives. That’s a strong appeal to our citizens who rejoice in claiming their victimhood. And isn’t it a fine puff-up to beat up people half a step down the power pyramid, including American citizens who probably have it coming anyhow because they didn’t vote for Trump.

Click through to the ICE “See Job Postings” pages and review about 60 ways for ICE agents to screw Americans, legal residents and any Brown person. That’s most attractive, especially if you’re White, angry because you had a rotten childhood and life isn’t fair for you. It’s great over-compensation, too, for having a tiny pee-pee. Betcha nobody will make fun of ICE guys in the locker room now that they carry Glocks.

I did not see where the website says that as an agent you can kill protesters whenever you’re feeling just a bit cross, but I’m sure it’s there.

Final note on this Hitler Brownshirt recruiting website.

When they join ICE these thugs will get minimal training and be issued their very own Kevlar vest, face mask, gun and secret decoder ring. They’ll get to throw Brown people and their sympathizers to the ground and make them eat dirt and snow. They’ll be trained to know that protesters are really domestic terrorists and that when agents are sick of whistles being blown in their faces that these proud ICE thugs can blow away those commie terrorists who are carrying signs or honking their horns. They can chase down cars like a dog and shoot people in the face.

It’s so good to be a patriotic American ICE agent!

Are you ready to be a really rough and tough pretend patriot so that you can break laws with impunity?

Join ICE!

Readings

From Steve Schmidt, January 10, 2026 – The Murder of America:

“Dissent is the righteous cry of the right against the wrong.”

“This moment demands that Democratic leaders embrace a philosophy of raw power. It holds that they will assert it to the maximum in order to stop the assault on the republic and the burning of the Constitution, [this] in defense of the American people.

From Rick Wilson, January 16, 2025 – Trump’s Gestapo.

Wilson says that what ICE is doing to American citizens is a violation of their Constitutional, civil, and human rights, and the consequences are a stain on this nation’s honor and that he’ll stop calling them a Gestapo when,

DHS stops pumping out overt Nazi propaganda, memes, and social media posts.

Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem and Greg Bovino and Tom Homan are held to account.

the day every ICE agent is ordered to pull off the masks, display a name and a badge number, and DHS sets out in public an explicit code of conduct with real penalties for the abuse of Americans’ civil rights.

But they won’t. Unless we make them.

From The “A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words” Desk

Copenhagen, 1943

Washington DC, 2025

Photos courtesy of Lawrence Dietz

Most Motivational Photo of the Week

Mother Jones reports,

“.  .  . ICE had detained Liam Ramos, a 5-year-old Minnesota boy .  .  .”

“Here is a literal preschooler wearing a Spider-Man backpack, just like all of our kids, as the hand of a much larger masked ICE agent holds onto his backpack, as if he were a flight risk. An oversized blue hat with bunny ears partially covers his face as he stares ahead blankly.”

That’s right. This tiny kid wearing a Spider-Man backpack was on his way to preschool and was detained by ICE and sent to a detention center. They tell us they do this cruelty to make our streets and our country safe from the worst of the worst. Maybe the white bunny ears hat failed to hide little 5-year-old Liam Ramos’ dangerous, worst of the worst nature.*

Bastards!

Read the Mother Jones report. And recognize that cruelty like this is being done in your name and mine every day.

______________________________________________

“America is not supposed to be a place where an angel-face five-year-old named Liam, with a floppy-eared hat and a Spider-Man backpack, gets seized and taken to a detention center by men in masks.”

“The depths of [Trump’s] shallowness is infinite.”

– Maureen Dowd, The Un-American President, January 25, 2025

  • 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.

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