Violence

Apt Comparison


POST 1256

Moderation?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Great Brain Report: True Trump Quote of the Week

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

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

Oops! Wrong brain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hopeful Reading of the Week

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

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

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

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

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

    Click me

    JA


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

Get Out!


POST 1255

CAUTION!

The following transcript is a fiction drawn from the author’s imagination and does not represent the actual phone call between the parties. But it should.

It is presented here for the purpose of clarifying real world needs of the people, plus to properly place well deserved snark. Strong language suitable for the defense of democracy is unredacted. Sensitive readers are advised to use only one eye.

– JA

The Phone Call

President Donald Trump telephoned Governor Tim Walz (MN) on the morning of Monday, January 26, two days after unarmed, unresistant, defenseless Alex Pretti was gunned down in the street by ICE agents. The call was reported by the White House to have been “productive.” Here is a transcript of that conversation.

President Donald Trump (PT): Good morning, Tim.

Governor Tim Walz (GW): It’s “Governor Walz,” Mr. President.

PT: Right. Well, Tim, I just want to check in with you to learn firsthand what you’re seeing.

GW: Is your hearing okay, Mr. President? Do you hear okay? It’s “Governor Walz.”

PT: Absolutely, Tim. Absolutely. In fact, my doctors say I have the best hearing they’ve ever seen. Ever! It’s off the charts. I aced all the tests. All of them. They’ve never seen anything like that.

GW: Okay. I’ll say this slowly to be sure you’re able to understand my words. What I’m seeing is your mob of masked, heavily armed bullies are injuring and murdering my people. There is chaos and violence in our streets caused entirely – ENTIRELY! – by your Gestapo thugs. That’s what I’m seeing.

PT: Well, Tim, you know that you have a huge – HUGE! – crime problem. And your Somali’s – they’re bad. They’re very bad. These are very bad people. Just look at your Representative Omar. She’s garbage. Complete garbage. There’s crime in your streets, Tim, like nothing anyone has ever seen before. It’s never been seen.

GW: You’re right, Mr. President. Nobody has seen it before because the crime you refer to doesn’t exist. Both violent and non-violent crime are down dramatically all over the state. That was true well before your private army of fascist thugs showed up and started beating people, throwing them to the ground, arresting and imprisoning innocent U.S. citizens and murdering innocent people. So, Mr. President, get your damn Gestapo goons out of Minnesota. You can send your pet Nazi Stephen Miller to lead them away.

PT: You’re very rude, Tim. You know we have to have law enforcement. Can’t have these illegals doing criminal things, like eating dogs. People’s pets. It’s terrible. They eat ducks in the park, too. It’s bad. It’s very bad.

GW: Mr. President, those accusations of animal eating came from lies told by your idiot Vice President. He was talking about Haitians who live legally in Springfield, OH, not Somalis in Minneapolis. And his accusations were proven by multiple researchers to be total bullshit. Your lies and those you’ve trained your idiot Vice-President to tell are bad, Mr. President. Very bad. Nobody has ever seen so many terrible lies. Do you know what I mean? Are you tracking with me?

Also, 80% of our immigrants from Somalia are U.S. citizens and they are entirely law abiding.

PT: Now, Tim .  .  .

GW: It’s “Governor Walz,” you know? “Governor.” What’s your problem, dementia?

PT: Once again, that’s very rude, Tim. You’re a very rude person.

GW: You’re right about one thing, Mr. President. We need law enforcement. And we have great law enforcement at our state, county and local levels. So, Mr. President, we don’t need your brutal, cruel, law breaking goons. Get your damn criminal Gestapo thugs out of Minnesota.

PT: Tim, I think you’re missing something here. Do you .  .  .

GW: Mr. President, get your fucking Gestapo thugs out of my state. Am I saying this slowly enough for you so that you get it? Get your fucking criminal creeps out of Minnesota.

PT: Tim, have some respect. I’m the President of the United States.

GW: Yeah, well most often it’s hard to understand how that’s possible. Regardless, get your damnable thugs out of Minnesota. Just leave. We’ll clean up your miserable, sorrowful, un-American mess.

PT: We’ll see what happens, Tim.

GW: We already know what happens. We see your brutality every day. Get your damn fascist thugs out of Minnesota. Are you getting my message?

And it’s “Governor Walz.”

PT: You know, Tim, that I can send our active duty Marines to Minneapolis, right?

GW: And I can send the Minnesota National Guard to surround the White House. That would be just as stupid as your idea.

As a safety tip, Mr. President, I don’t think you’ll be welcome at the funeral of Alex Pretti or Renee Good or at any of the vigils held in their honor. You might want to stay at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with a Sharpie in your  hand counting the number of times you’re named in the Epstein files. Perhaps you’ll want some high school girls to help you count and to help you remember all the sick abuse of so many girls.

One more thing: Get a brain scan right away. And in case I haven’t been clear, get your criminal thugs out of my state.

Take Heart

From Pew Research:

Only about a quarter of Americans today (27%) say they support all or most of Trump’s policies and plans, down from 35% when he returned to office last year. That change has come entirely among Republicans.

His approval rate probably won’t go much lower because he’s down to only his angry, mouth-breathing base supporters who will mindlessly support any irrational or cruel things he does.

Unless there’s proof of his pedophilia. That’ll piss off even Billy Bob and his little sister, too. Abusing little girls just isn’t okay with nearly any of us.

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    The Fine Print:

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

    Click me

    JA


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

What Is Actually Happening Today


POST 1254

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Historical precedent

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

WATCH WHAT WE SAY!?

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

Now

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

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

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

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

A. Everything

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

Duplicitous

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

From The Onion

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

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

This is yet another example of Trump as democracy destroyer.

Tom Homan, Border Bastard

From Mother Jones:

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

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

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

Quote Of The Month

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

“The national emergency is avoiding a national emergency.”

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

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

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

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

It Isn’t New, But It’s Just As Ugly

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

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

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

Song of the Month

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

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

We are endowed with .  .  .

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

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

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

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

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

    The Fine Print:

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

    Click me

    JA


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

ICE News! and Impeachment


POST 1253

ICE News! We Exist And We Don’t Care If You Do!
Minneapolis, January 24
.

It was a proud moment for we at ICE, for Secretary Dead Puppy, for leader UberFührer Bovino and our holy leader and god of the galaxy and beyond, His Celestial Majesty, Donald J. Trump.

Ignore all the woke mouth flappers and those videos about Saturday. Here’s what really happened.

This woman breaks into our ranks, so we shoved her to the ground where she belongs. Then this guy comes out of nowhere and moves to help her and we heard him blowing a whistle, so we knew immediately that he was a domestic terrorist, a threat to us and to all real Americans. We saw the bulge in his waistline and knew he was carrying a gun for only one reason: to kill our fellow agents.

But think about that. We’re the guys you count on to get rid of the worst of the worst and to terrorize our nation into submission. Instead, this guy was trying to terrorize us with his radical woke. Can’t allow that.

So, six of us jumped him. While trying to subdue him his hand shot up holding his iPhone. No way we’d allow that commie crap, so one of our guys pulled his gun and plugged that sucker in the back. That sure slowed him down. Plus, it looked  like fun, so two more of us drew our weapons and fired away like it was the 4th of July. Ten shots in just five seconds! Pretty good shooting, huh? It was more fun than a drive in the country shooting holes in speed limit signs. That f*cker won’t be showing up at rallies with his whistle and his lefty radical creeps anymore.

And the 5-year-old kid with the Spider-Man back pack (sniffle)? We either lock the brat up now or he becomes an adult woke terrorist with a gun later. We’re all safer with him behind bars. ‘Course, we can always rendition him to that gulag in El Salvador, but he’s pretty small now and probably wouldn’t last too long there. No matter. None of us cares.

The rest of you a**holes on the sidewalks carrying your stupid and unpatriotic signs and blowing your stupid whistles oughta learn something from this. You don’t stand a chance against ICE because we’re motivated by our anger, our heads are empty and we have immunity from prosecution and can do whatever we want. So, F*CK YOU!

And watch out, Maine, you hotbed of un-American idiots. We’re coming for you next.

It really makes us feel so strong and powerful to say that stuff. We’re proud to be tough guys serving our perfect leader.

To comment on this ICE News or any ICE actions, dial 1-800-EAT SH*T. An on-duty ICE operator will verbally abuse you and find you via GPS tracking of your phone. Agents will come and pound your door down, drag you outside regardless of whether you’re dressed for the frigid weather and throw you into the back of an unmarked SUV with your hands zip tied. You can run, but you can’t hide, woke scum.

Impeachment

Of course you’ve thought about it and there is a long list of miscreants for us to target. There’s Trump and Vance, of course. There are also Patel, Bondi, Noem, Hegseth, Rubio, Zeldin, Burgum,  Bessent and Lutnick, cabinet secretaries each doing their own brand of democracy killing and fascist evil. Plus, we should also rightly target Supreme Court Justices Thomas, Alito and “I like beer” Kavanaugh.

I’m imagining that after the new congress is seated that Speaker Jeffries will send a letter to each of them. It will read,

“Your high crimes and misdemeanors have been noted and catalogued and articles of impeachment to remove you from government office have been crafted.

Accordingly, and in line with our country’s long practice of decency and respect, values that you’ve abandoned and know nothing about, we give you twenty four hours to resign your post and clear out of all government buildings. Secret Service agents will be present to make certain that you do not remove anything that isn’t your legitimate personal property. You are specifically prohibited by law and by congressional mandate from taking any confidential materials of any level of classification, even if you want to hide them in your bathroom.

If you fail to resign within that time period, articles of impeachment will be filed immediately thereafter and you will be subject to the public humiliation of having the truth of your transgressions paraded before the world. Thereafter, you can count on your likely forcible removal from government by order of the Senate and enforced by U.S. Marshals, who will perp walk you out of the building and off government property. All evidence of your guilt will be forwarded to appropriate justice enforcing agencies.

The clock is ticking.

There is a glitch in this wonderful plan. It’s the pardon.

If Trump is impeached and removed from office, Vance will immediately become president and he will likely pull a Gerald Ford and grant Trump  a “full, free, and absolute pardon for all federal crimes he has committed or may have committed or taken part in .  .  .  ” Nice follow on from Chief Justice John Roberts having giving Trump a get out of jail free card for his crimes while in office. It’s galling to think that Trump might once again avoid accountability.

On the other hand, impeachment is not a criminal prosecution. The only penalties are removal from office and exclusion from ever again holding any public office.

Trump will likely pardon all of the felons preemptively. That would prevent them from being held accountable for their federal crimes. It appears that the only lasting remedy will be state prosecutions. Bring on Leticia James. Maybe Jack Smith, James Comey and a pack of feral state pit bull attorneys general. Keith Ellison, are you listening?

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    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

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

    Click me

    JA


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

No Fever, But A Hopeful Dream


POST 1250

January 6, 2027, 9:00 PM EST

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sen. Warren holds up a thick document.

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

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

Sen. Warren hands the document to Speaker Jeffries.

HJ: Speaker Jeffries holds up the document.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We’ll have no more of that.

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

EW: Let’s look at another section.

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

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

_________________________

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

Take action!

________________________________________

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

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    The Fine Print:

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

    Click me

    JA


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

An Update – With Questions


POST 1249

ICE Murders

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do you feel safer?

Is our nation safer?

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

Is this the kind of country you expected or want?

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

More Pesky Questions

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

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

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

Playing With Numbers

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

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

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

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

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

Three Questions

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

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

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

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    The Fine Print:

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

    Click me

    JA


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

Behavior Geek


POST 1241

A Disambiguation Science Moment

Today, the winter solstice, is not the shortest day of the year. In fact, there is no shortest day of the year. They’re all the same length: 24 hours; 86,400 seconds. What this actually is that is noteworthy is the day of this year with the shortest duration of daylight. Conversely, it’s the day with the greatest duration of dark sky.

But you knew that. Here’s another way to look at it.

Starting today, we’ll gain between 1 and 3 minutes per day until the summer solstice on June 21. Consider that we can shed more and more light on reality all next year to influence our November 3 election to create more sanity in our federal and state governments.

More light. It’s a good thing.

We Start Here

Machiavelli told us long ago, it matters far more what people think of you than what the reality is. And we are experts at manipulating our self-presentation [and] we are so good at it that we actually believe the nonsense we say to other people.

– Bill Moyers interview of social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, 2012

Haidt was talking about all of us, but this was pre-Trump. The concern today is about our not-so-dear president, his sycophants and his millions of supporters. They actually believe the nonsense they say.

And the concern is also about the cavers, the ones who sell themselves out for a short term gain. The reason for our concern is the terrible effect they have on our nation and on each of us individually, including their attack on values we all claim to hold but which are sold out by so many.

We learned during Trump 1.0 that when he says outrageous, incendiary, un-American things that he’s telling us what he actually will do, including breaking the law. Oddly, many are surprised.

Click me

“We’re shocked, shocked, to find that there is crime being done in and from the White House!” It’s a Captain Renault moment in America, over and over.

To mix metaphors probably way too much, we really did know what that snake was when we picked him up, so there should be no surprise at all. Horror? Fear? Blood running cold? Sure. But not surprise.

Perhaps what is more shocking is the capitulation done by people who had no need to capitulate. The knee benders. The ring kissers. The simple greedy bastards. The ones who obey in advance.

From Wikipedia:

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (“Paul Weiss”) is the sole law firm targeted by an executive order that did not sue the administration and instead made a deal with the administration to avoid sanctions and restore access [to federal courts].

In addition to Paul Weiss, eight other firms made preemptive deals with Trump to avoid being similarly targeted by executive orders. As part of the settlements, the nine law firms have agreed to provide a total of $940 million in pro bono work to efforts supported by the president. Plus, they and many others each agreed to Trump’s extortion plan that they “donate” $16 million to Trump’s presidential library, for which there is neither a location nor architectural plans.

Trump doesn’t read and his only book is Mein Kampf, so there will be no need for book shelves, nor file cabinets for documents in a Trump library, were it to be built. Likely, there would only be his greatest hits album detailing his tough guy speeches and reruns of The Apprentice shown in a gold and white theater.

Columbia University went completely paws up to Trump when he pulled $400 million in federal funding from them. To get him off their back they relinquished control of their programs, their classes and even their selection of students and faculty.

What they and so many others have in common is that they have ignored Timothy Snyder’s messages from On Tyranny – 20 Lessons From The Twentieth Century. Here’s a sampling. Note that the comments below are mine, not Snyder’s.

Lesson No. 1: Do Not Obey In Advance. Don’t do what you think the bully wants you to do, perhaps hoping to curry favor. Doing so is surrendering without even an objection, much less a fight. It’s voluntarily going paws up. Instead, put on your big boy or big girl pants and punch the damn bully in the face. Hard.

Lesson No. 2: Defend institutions. Tyrants want to smash them, disempower them so that they can control everything and everyone. Instead, put on your big boy or big girl pants and punch the damn bully in the face. Hard.

Lesson No. 5: Remember professional ethics. Refuse to succumb to directives ordering discrimination and violation of your oaths. Instead, put on your big boy or big girl pants and punch the damn bully in the face. Hard.

There is more, of course, but it all comes down to taking a stand protecting and defending what must be protected and defended, like the Constitution. Failure to do so is nothing but caving in, hoping you’ll quickly get out of the crosshairs of the bully and will be able to do so on the cheap. The best that can be said about that is that it is astonishingly short sighted and self-deluding.

When a little kid has a temper tantrum and you give him what he wants, hoping to shut him up, you’ve trained him to come back in full tyrant form and demand more. That’s what happens to those who are quick sell-outs to bullies. The bullies take your lunch money the next day, too. Don’t be an idiot. Put on your big boy or big girl pants and punch the damn bully in the face. Hard.

And that’s the message that so many should have heard and heeded. Trump’s threatened lawsuits would have been easy to defeat in court because his actions weren’t defensible. His style is to make capitulation the cheapest exit from his bullying. But there really is no exit for those who cave and ultimately it isn’t cheap.

There are many short-term thinkers, like the bullies who became ICE thugs. Trump found a cheap hook to recruit them – a $50,000 signing bonus – and then he owned them. He told them to bully, beat, gas, shoot and assault people indiscriminately – strangers, fellow citizens, neighbors – anyone even a little brown – and to pay no attention to whether they were U.S. citizens or legal residents and to essentially ignore whether they were criminals or not. Trump got his national thug army and set them a-thugging. The goal wasn’t about crime. It was and is to terrorize the country so that he could rid the country of non-Whites using illegal immigration as a cover story. Plus he’d get to cow all of us into submission.

And these ICE thugs stepped up to collect their checks and then started beating up innocent people. When Trump is gone and sane people are back in charge – like when we once again remember and invoke our common values – look for prosecutions of all the bullies.

For these and others, the day will come when they are in deep, deep trouble, maybe anguish, because they gave up, sold out on the cheap for their greed and for their lust for power until nothing was left. They will look for strength deep inside and will find an empty vacuum where their souls used to be.

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The Fine Print:

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

Click me

JA


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

WAR!


POST 1221

Reporting From War-Torn Chicago .  .  .
.

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

Edward R. Murrow

This is Chicago.

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

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

From pal Frank Levy:

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

Click me for the story

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

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

Instructions for being a Republican

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

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

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

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

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

What Would They Say or Do Today?

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

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

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

The fascists are coming! The fascists are coming!
.

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

Thomas Paine told us:

Thomas Paine

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

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

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

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

Be there!

Click me

Final Words

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

Who is it who wants to do the slaughtering?

Still Standing

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

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

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

Click me

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

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

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

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

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

Click me

JA


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

First They Came


POST 1220

No One Left To Speak

From friend Jay Becker of Refuse Fascism:

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

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

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

and liberated in 1945

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

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

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

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

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

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

From Reuters:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click and read

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

Enemies Of The People, Invasion From Within

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

And it kills.

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

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

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

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The Fine Print:

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

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JA


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

The Real Charlie Kirk


POST 1217

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s the real Charlie Kirk.

_____________________________________

New York Times, April 9, 1944

Click me

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

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

  • Mid-Term Election
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    .

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

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

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

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

Click me

JA


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

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