Saturday, September 6, 2025

He's Coming for You Next: Trump's Revenge Tour Reshaping Our Society

I doubt if author Tom Clancy could have come up with a book of fiction to rival Trump's attack against his perceived enemies and people of color.

Just the thought that a president of the United States is a convicted felon and world class grifter would have strained readers imagination to the limits. Unfortunately, it's our reality today.

Trump seldom keeps promises but when it comes to going after anyone, he doesn't like he's been remarkably consistent. When he was re-elected Trump pulled out his enemies list and went after them like a rabid badger.

The latest victim, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, had his Maryland residence invaded by an army of FBI agents. You would have thought they were after an armed terrorist with their automatic weapons and surrounding the house. Reportedly they were searching for classified information - a new excuse that's being used by Trump's minions to raid his enemies' homes. 

Another former government employee named Miles Taylor - the former Department of Homeland Security Deputy Chief of staff - is expecting election denier and FBI Chief Kash Patel to search his home next. Miles was a critic of Trump which automatically put him on the enemies list.

Going after former government officials is one of Trump's prime missions, but he's an equal opportunity hater and will go after anyone - regardless of who they are - if he doesn't like them. Right to the point of absurdity. 

To be clear, no matter how famous a person is if they don't like him, he goes on his toxic public platform the ironically named, Truth Social, and berets them like an angry 8-year-old. He doesn't ever spare the common man or woman who dare to speak out against him. Like a spoiled child he demeans them and uses the power of the presidency to get his way.

Like George Orwell's book 1984, Trump has become Big Brother and is invading all walks of life by taking over the entire federal government and state governments. 1984 is a novel written to warn people about what will happen if they become complacent. 

Have we become too complacent? Has Orwell's warning fallen on deaf ears? A frazzled Democratic Party is trying to cope with the continuous attacks on our freedoms but until they're united their efforts are just holding actions.

As it Stands, be careful of what you say and do because Big Orange Brother is watching you.

Friday, September 5, 2025

Supreme Takeover by Trump Threatens Our Freedoms

The first fatal blow against democracy came on July 1, 2024, when Trump was granted absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken within his core constitutional duties and a presumptive immunity for other official acts.

The gates of hell were opened, and the hounds were turned loose.

The Supreme Court basically gave Trump carte blanche to corrupt every government agency we have without fear of interference by the lower courts.   

Lower court trial judges are concerned about Justice Neil Gorsuch who recently criticized them for changing some rulings that they've made from the infamous Shadow Docket. Federal and state judges are under growing pressure from Trump and his minions who are openly defying their decisions.

A quick roundup of the Supreme Nine:

About Chief Justice John Roberts: Some have described him as having a moderate conservative judicial philosophy. Appointed by George W. Bush, Roberts has sided with conservatives in a majority of his decisions.

About Neil Gorsuch: he believes private corporations are persons with rights that trump those of other Americans. He was appointed by Trump for his right-wing leanings.

About Clarence Thomas: apart from the televised hearings over Anita Hill's accusation of being sexually harassed by him we know he is a big Trump fan, accepts bribes in the form of gifts from millionaire pals, and hates democrats.

About Samuel Alito: He calls himself a "practical originalist" and loves right wing ideologies. He's another top grifter who has been receiving bribes from wealthy friends his entire time on the bench.

About Brett Kavanaugh: his 2018 confirmation was a big coverup and the FBI refused to look into hundreds of claims against him from sexual assault in high school to two separate allegations from women who accused him of sexual misconduct. Trump and Republican senators hurried up his confirmation.

About Amy Coney Barrett: She was appointed by Trump in 2020. She's best known for fighting to undermine health care for millions in her attack on the Affordable Care Act and publicly criticized Chief Justice John Roberts for his decision to uphold the law. She also fought efforts to ensure that women have access to contraceptives.

That leaves just three associate justices who are liberals:

Elena Kagan: She was appointed in 2010 by Barrack Obama.

Sonia Sotomayor: She was also appointed by Barack Obama on May 26, 2008.

Ketanji Brown Jackson: She was appointed by Joe Biden on Feb. 25, 2022.

With a lopsided 6-3 majority the hard right has the fate of the country in their hands. Heavily Trumpified we can no longer hope for fair decisions. They're becoming rarer than the fabled jackalope population.

The really scary part is that state and federal judges are fighting off attacks from Trump and the Supreme Court. They are our last bastion before total chaos.

As it Stands, I never believed there was another country that could defeat America by military force. I still believe that. But it appears our fate is going to be much like Rome's, and we'll fall from within.

Thursday, September 4, 2025

Fantasy or Fact? Trump's Health is Great or is He Dying?

Watching Trump decline mentally has become a national pastime since he first emerged upon the political scene in 2015.

It was apparent Trump was a dummy with the signs of early dementia, but boy did he appeal to all of the extremists in the land, and they crawled out from their caves and basements and voted for him.

The MAGA cult population grew with every conspiracy and tried to turn reality into a fantasized alternate universe where everything was upside down and sidewise. I have to admit they've done a pretty good job thus far of distorting and ignoring the truth. Facts, like fleas, make the MAGA morons uncomfortable.

So here we are ten years later, and Trump has cheated his way back into power by stealing the 2024 election with the help of the richest man in the world, Elon Musk. His mental state has visibly deteriorated but his minions continue to cover for him because that's part of their job. Babysitting the man child is in their contract.

If you looked at any social media over the last week, you may have seen people speculating, without evidence, that something happened to Trump. Or, that Trump was dead, which was probably a case of wishing it was true. In any event reporters started looking closer at Trump's health after observing him zigzag when he walked and bruises on his tiny hand. Then it was both hands, and the final straw was his swollen "cankles."

Forced to put something out there the Trump propaganda team admitted he had chronic venous insufficiency and claimed his hand was bruised from so much vigorous hand shaking. That later claim was shot down quickly.

Conspiracy nuts like Trump's buddy Alex Jones were speculating about his poor health the last couple of weeks and he cryptically told his drooling audience of trolls that Trump appeared to be "declining, faster and faster.

When Trump reappeared in the limelight to announce the Space Command headquarters were being moved, Fox News' Peter (the douche) Doocy asked him, "How did you find out that you were dead? Did you see that?"

"No," the 79-year-old felon responded. He told everyone that he wasn't aware that people were wondering if he had died. Not being aware checks out for me. Mini-me Trump, also known as JD Vance, insists Trump is in good health.

"He's got incredible energy," Vance gushed to USA Today. "And while most of the people who work around the president are younger than he is, I think that we find that he is actually is the last person who goes to sleep or make phone calls."

My favorite reply to that came from one of my favorite comedians, Stephen Colbert, who summarized the situation. "OK. The president doesn't sleep and is on the phone all night. Proof that he is completely healthy or runs a phone sex line."

I think all of this death talk surrounding our demented leader is more about hope than anything. Let's face it, a lot of people would like to see his assault on democracy come to an end. However final that may be.

As it Stands, Trump is our oldest president ever and he's acting like it.

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

It's a Bad Time to Celebrate Mexican Independance Day and Cities Brace for Invasion

Question: Why did Stephen Miller pick September to turn his ICE goons loose in Chicago?

Answer: It's Mexican Independance Day this weekend and there's going to be a lot of brown-skinned people celebrating in the streets with parades and events.

Miller would refer to the opportunity as "good hunting," for his Gestapo who will flood the area in masks, no IDs, and carrying weapons to intimidate every Latino daring enough to leave their house to celebrate.

While the ICE hounds are having fun Trump is ramping up his assault on American cities. He has his little piggy eyes focused on Chicago. It has a democratic governor and mayor, and the crime rate is the lowest it's been in 30 years. 

That's Trump's blueprint for taking over blue states and calling them crime-ridden hellholes - despite the reality of crimes decreasing like what happened in Washington DC. where the national guard has been called in to pick up trash and leaves while intimidating civilians. They're still there and it's looking an awful lot like a permanent occupation. 

Look at California. A federal judge ruled the takeover of LA was unlawful and unconstitutional yet there's still troops there. Gov. Newsom has fought hard to turn back Trump's total takeover of the state.

Trump is testing his power right now and the only thing that's held him back from an all-out takeover of states has been the courts. The Supreme Court with its right-wing majority has given Trump some victories that have actually set back our struggling democracy. 

But state and federal courts have stood up to numerous lawsuits by the Trump administration always citing that they were clearly unlawful and unconstitutional. 

Yesterday Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters that Trump was positioning armed federal agents on federal property in the Chicago region and warned that he would send masked agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to raid Latino communities.

A defiant Pritzker said, "We are ready to fight troop deployments in court, and we will do everything possible to ensure that agents operating inside the confines of this state do so in a legal and ethical manner."

Here's something almost as scary as the above.

There's already one Red State that's inviting Trump to come to town and basically take over the state of Louisiana. GOP Gov. Jeff Landry and state senator Bill Cassidy told Trump they'd love to have masked invaders terrifying their colored citizens.

As it Stands, Trump's efforts towards having a Police State claiming he's fighting crime is just one of the ways he using to mask the corruption in his regime... and it's also a good diversion from the Epstein Files.

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

A New Democratic Party Needs to Emerge - and Quickly

                                 Let's face it.

The Democratic party is stagnant. After losing the 2024 election the party splintered into warring factions. The good news is we're starting to see another platform forming as the Democrats look to their younger members to regenerate the party.

A good example is Rep. Jerry Nadler who is stepping down for a "new generation" to represent his Manhattan district after more than 30 years in office. He made the announcement Sept.2nd saying, "it's time to pass the torch."

Thank you, Jerry. I hope we see other elderly Democrats give way to allow some new blood and creativity and boldness in Congress. If Democrats want to succeed in 2026, they need to take bold, unified action.

Americans are fed up with the inability of Congress to act, and they have embraced a president who circumvents Congress for all of his major initiatives. If Democrats want to succeed in 2026, they can't just limit their message to condemning Trump. It didn't work in 2024 and there's no reason to believe it will next year. There has to be more talk about the economy and how to improve it.

Addressing Americans real concerns like healthcare, housing, the cost of food, rising energy prices, and immigration should be at the center of the Democrats new message.

The question is who The Messenger will be for the party? So far, the DNC hasn't come up with any candidates. A few like Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker, and Kathy Hochul, have national profiles and have been outspoken critics of Trump. But are any of them presidential material? We just don't know yet.

The sooner Democrats get unified the better because they're facing huge challenges in the midterms. Trump is already working on rigging the elections with Texas legislators, and infiltrating states with election deniers in state's electoral systems.  

Democrats need to unify against Republicans and not have infighting. Their messaging has been all over the place. I hate to say it, but the Party is devoid of leadership and strategy. The only left-leaning party that seems united against Trump is based in Canada.

The Democratic Party's brand has become toxic - a CNN poll found the party's favorability rating was just 29%, the lowest since the survey began. There's a dire need for democrats to make the message about economic populism.

There's also a need to find a leader to go forward in the future. Hopefully the Party will respond in the coming months as it rebuilds its credibility.

As it Stands, our constitutional republic is facing its biggest challenge since the Civil War.

Monday, September 1, 2025

Mainstream/Legacy Media is Losing legitimacy

It's official.

Americans face a crisis that strikes at the very heart of democracy - we can no longer count on the mainstream/legacy media for accuracy and bi-partisan reporting.

As a newspaper editor and publisher, I always strived to give unbiased news stories for my readers. I didn't print conspiracy theories to gain readership. I didn't bow to pressures by local political candidates to give them a free sounding board at the expensive of the newspaper's reputation. 

My Opinion Pages were clearly marked with mastheads. When a reader turned to one of them, they knew it wasn't news... it was people's opinions, or it was my opinion. There was never any doubt. I did not advocate for either political party and treated both parties with the same respect.

It's hard to fully express my disappointment with the mainstream/legacy media's lack of coverage this Labor Day. There were anti-Trump protests from coast-to-coast but if you went to ABC, NBC, or CBS, to see coverage of the nationwide protest against Billionaires you had to wait until all the events were over and then watch them on evening news for a scattershot coverage of the holiday protests. 

Throughout the day some local affiliates of these stations carried live events from Chicago to D.C. to small audiences. It's noteworthy to point out it was the independent press that gave daylong coverage. Internet platforms like the MeidusTouch, The Ring of Fire, and Occupy Democrats covered the stories that the mainstream/legacy was ignoring.

Why the big sellout? The answer is a sad reflection of where we are as a country. Six companies control 90% of the media (any medium that controls the distribution of information) in America. They are Disney, TimeWarner, Comcast, News Corps, Sony, and National Amusements. 

The conservative CEOs of these companies want to keep Trump happy because they're afraid of him. He basically sued them into submission. Look at what happened to popular comedian Stephen Colbert when Trump wanted him gone. He held up a major merger between Comcast and Paramount until he was assured Colbert would be canceled. That's one tiny example of what's happening behind closed doors as billionaire CEOs capitulate to Trump's agenda.

Do you suppose there's any correlation between those timid CEOs and lack of comprehensive coverage of the Labor Day protest? It's not hard to see where Trump would want zero coverage regarding him or his corrupt administration. You decide, based upon the evidence.

It wouldn't do to forget cable news outlets. The competition between CNN, MSNBC, Fox, Newsmax, and Forbes is fierce with each outlet trying to post clickbait that may or may not be dubious or accurate. I should mention BBC, Reuters, and the Associated Press have a better history of accuracy than the other cable platforms.

It was George Washington who said, "If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."

James Madison noted that a free press provides the "power which knowledge gives" to people to govern themselves.

As it Stands, freedom of the press is more than just a passion for me, it's one of the cornerstones of this society.

Sunday, August 31, 2025

'Workers Over Billionaires' - Protest Information on Labor Day Nationwide

 

On Labor Day Americans will show their support for unions by turning out in nationwide protests against the corrupt Trump regime's war on workers.

People will also be protesting other issues like the loss of health care, growing inflation, and other miseries Trump has brought to the country in his seven short months of squatting in the Oval Office. 

Why it matters: The largest federation of labor unions in the U.S. is leading the movement, along with dozens of other groups.

  • More than 1,000 events were scheduled as of Sunday.

State of play: The protests are being organized by the AFL-CIO and groups including Bargaining for the Common Good, the National Education Association, Indivisible, Working Families Party, MoveOn, American Federation of Teachers, Public Citizen and 50501.

  • The May Day Strong coalition, which organized widespread anti-billionaire rallies on May 1, is also involved.

What they're saying: "This isn't just about policy — it's about building meaningful worker power to fight back and build a movement rooted in real life, led by real people," organizers said.

  • "From warehouses to kitchens, from schools to streets — we are saying it loud, we are saying it proud: Workers over billionaires now!"

Zoom in: As part of this movement, thousands of restaurant workers are slated to protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City between 2 and 4pm ET on Monday.

  • They will launch a "restaurant in the street" serving tacos to symbolize the popular acronym TACO, meaning "Trump Always Chickens Out."
  • Here's a link to all the cities nationwide hosting protests. See if one is near you.
  • As it Stands, it's a good day to show your support for American workers and letting Trump know how you feel about his administration. 

Live Fire Military Event on 'No Kings Day' is a Show of Power: Missiles over I-5 Freeway!

  Republicans are melting down  in desperation over today's " No Kings Day " national protest against Trump and his corrupt re...