Category Archives: Civil Rights

A Democratic Project 2029.

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The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 embraced by the Trump regime has made the US virtually unrecognizable by creating an autocratic oligarchy that panders to the wealthy and the powerful and erodes the individual rights guaranteed by our Constitution. And it’s likely to get much worse as Project 2025 is only roughly 50 percent implemented!

When a Democratic president and congressional majority is elected to supplant the MAGA miscreants (assuming we have free and fair elections), we need to be prepared to not only restore our democracy but to improve it with a Project 2029. MAGA has shown us the way to quickly reshape the US according to its ideology. Democrats must not shy away from doing the same. Following are my suggestions:

1 – Immediately nullify all of Trump’s Executive Orders.

2 – Pass legislation to restore all powers to the legislative branch as enumerated in the Constitution.

3 – Order the Attorney General (AG) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to begin prosecutions of those who participated in the Trump regime’s many violations of the Constitution.

4 – Pass legislation to eliminate immunity for all federal employees past, present and future.

5 – Order the AG and DOJ to begin prosecutions of all international war crimes, including those committed by the Trump and Netanyahu regimes.

6 – Reduce, restructure or eliminate DHS, ICE and CBP.

7 – Break up corporate monopolies. No company should ever control more than 10% of any industry.

8 – Impeach Justices Thomas and Alito for their inexcusable grift and unethical behavior and replace them with liberal justices. If necessary, increase the size of SCOTUS to 12 with nonpartisan appointments.

9 – Eliminate financial and weapons support for Israel’s Zionist government until such time it demonstrates respect for the human rights of all people under its control.

10 – To prevent corporations and billionaires from further corrupting our elections, pass legislation to repeal the decisions of Citizens United v FEC and Buckley v Valeo. Ban private campaign donations beyond $500 and provide government funding for all legitimate federal candidates so members of Congress can work instead of spending 40 percent of their time fundraising.

11 – Pass legislation to require every high school graduate to pass a thorough civics test.

12 – Pass legislation to eliminate the electoral college and make election day a national holiday. Automatically register all high school graduates and naturalized citizens to vote.

13 – Pass legislation reinstating the Fairness Doctrine to clearly label and separate opinion from news. Revoke the licenses of any media outlet that fails to do so.

14 – Pass legislation to fully restore all civil liberties, including a woman’s right to choose.

15 – Pass legislation to ban any convicted felon from holding public office.

16 – Pass legislation to place strict controls on government surveillance and invasions of privacy.

17 – Expand IRS, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security regulators to catch fraudsters.

18 – Make the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share of taxes by eliminating tax loopholes.

19 – Eliminate all tax shelters, both on and offshore.

20 – Restore funding for the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health.

21 – Restore funding for public education and research grants for universities. Pass legislation to ban government funding of private religious schools.

22 – Enforce rules for churches and 501c3s that ban direct political engagement at risk of losing tax-free status.

23 – Pass legislation instituting term limits on Congress – 4 terms for the House, 3 terms for the Senate.

24 – Restore funding for USAID and other international aid groups, including the UN.

25 – Hold the Department of Defense accountable for failing audits and its inability or refusal to account for more than $21 trillion in spending.

26 – Create a humane and practical immigration policy that accepts refugees and asylum-seekers, that provides renewable work permits for necessary workers, and that provides a path to citizenship.

27 – Address homelessness and food insecurity by recognizing that no one who works or has a disability should be unhoused or hungry.

28 – Rejoin the Paris Climate Accords and aggressively address climate change.

29 – Move quickly to eliminate reliance on fossil fuels.

30 – Ban drilling and oil exploration on federal lands, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

31 – Claw back all emoluments gained by the Trump family and members of the regime. Pass legislation requiring that anyone who uses a public office for financial gain be fired and prosecuted.

32 – Pass legislation to reinforce separation of church and state.

33 – Restore an accurate account of US history, including the genocide of indigenous people, slavery and Jim Crow.

34 – Pass legislation restoring the Voting Rights Act.

35 – Pass legislation creating Medicare for all.

36 – Notify all federal employees that anyone who makes decisions based on politics and religion will be fired.

37 – Rebuild the East Wing of the White House and restore the Kennedy Rose Garden.

38 – Pass legislation reaffirming our commitment to NATO and all long-standing treaties.

39 – Remove the Trump name from every federal building and edifice and make it illegal to display the name on any structure other than portable toilets.

40 – Instead of an eternal flame, equip Trump’s eventual grave with modesty panels and a catchment basin for the legions of people who will want to piss on it.

1984 In 2026.

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Published in 1949, George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 warned of a future in which a totalitarian government, aided by technology, controlled nearly every aspect of its citizens’ lives through a combination of mass surveillance, propaganda, and lies.

It turns out that his prediction arrived 42 Years late.

Think that’s hyperbole? Consider this: In his first term, media documented that the Felon-in-Chief told more than 35,000 lies. And he has only accelerated his assault on the truth in the years since.

The propaganda began (ironically) in 1984 when Rush Limbaugh began spewing rightwing lies and half-truths on his syndicated radio show followed by imitators such as Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, Dennis Prager and Bill O’Reilly. Their success led to the founding of TV propaganda outlets such as Fox News Channel, NewsMax, OAN, and now CBS News. In addition, we have Breitbart, Meta and X to spread the lies.

As for mass surveillance, it has increased over the past several decades to help law enforcement track criminals and terrorists. But, under the Trump regime, it has grown to track the entire population with more than 70,000 Automatic License Plate Reader cameras that can map the movements of vehicles. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used to track cellphones using Stingray/IMSI simulated cell towers. AI is being used to sweep social media using RAVEn. Drones and helicopters are used to track immigrants and who knows who else.

Facial recognition using the technology of Mobile Fortify and Clearview AI is being used by ICE to identify immigrants and to intimidate citizens. As I’ve written before, Elon Musk’s DOGE has compromised your personal data at the regime’s request. And Peter Thiel’s Palantir is in the process of consolidating all federal databases making it easy for anyone in the regime to invade your privacy as never before. The regime is even in the process of collecting voter data which can be used to compromise free and fair elections.

After the megalomaniac in the Oval Office has deported millions of people of color and permanently rigged elections so only his allies can win, what comes next? He has already compromised the courts, subjugated Congress, and willfully violated the Constitution. Will he be satisfied with total power and complete control? Will he continue to rebuild Washington, DC and splash his name on every building and entity of note? Will his desire to corruptly use his office to add billions more to his personal fortune ever be satiated? Will he be content to exact legal and monetary retribution against his perceived enemies?

Or will he need to see his political enemies punished in some sort of twisted version of the Hunger Games?

It Was Never About The “Worst Of The Worst.”

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The invasion of Minnesota by 3,000 feral paramilitary shock troops was never about arresting violent immigrants. Most of those people were already in Minnesota jails and prisons before being turned over to ICE. Certainly, the ICEstapo did detain immigrants. But almost all of them were hardworking, taxpaying individuals who contributed to our communities and are here legally.

Many of our immigrants are refugees or have applied for asylum. Some have been sponsored by family members. Many are legally here on Temporary Protected Status after fleeing war zones or overwhelming natural disasters. Others are going through the immigration process “the right way” and have been issued green cards, which permit them to live and work in the U.S. permanently. Some are “Dreamers” who were granted special status after being brought here as children. Some are holders of temporary visas. Still others are here on H1-B “genius” visas because they possess unique and valuable talents. A very few may be undocumented. But none of them – I repeat – none of them are “illegal aliens.”

That term should not be applied to any human being!

The invasion of Minnesota was, in fact, the combination of a Mafia-style shake-down and the regime wanting to exact violent retribution against a proud blue state.

How do we know that? Pam Bondi and the DOJ have recently stated that the regime will end its siege if the state ends its sanctuary policies, provides details of SNAP and Medicaid recipients and, more importantly, turns over voting data – an action that would be against state law.

Why voting data? Because the regime wants to use voter records to rig future elections, including the upcoming midterms. As Marc Elias says, “Donald Trump is obsessed with the midterms and will do whatever he needs to prevent losing control of Congress. Given his unpopularity, that likely means mass voter suppression, election subversion and outright election theft.

To accomplish any of this at scale, he will need unredacted statewide voter files. That would allow him and Bondi to identify which voters to target, which ballots to discard, and against whom to lodge false claims of fraud.”

In pursuit of the information, the ICEstapo and Border Patrol led by Hitler mini-me Greg Bovino have subjected tens of thousands of Minnesota residents to terrorist tactics – illegally dragging them out of their cars with the windows broken and the motors still running. They’ve kidnapped a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old to use as bait to lure parents out of their homes.

These morally bankrupt criminals have usurped freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, including freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. They have violated the 4th Amendment prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure. They’ve also violated the 5th Amendment guaranteeing due process in addition to numerous other provisions of the Constitution.

And with the murders of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, they have unconstitutionally invoked a policy of “obey or die.”

Apparently, they believe that no one can hold them accountable by recording and observing their almost always brutal tactics. They have, after all, been told by their leaders and the corrupt regime in Washington, DC that they have complete and total immunity for their actions. In the process, they have terrified most residents of our great cities.

Because the ICEstapo is racial profiling, citizens who are brown and black are afraid to leave their homes. Even Native Americans have been detained and swept away to detention centers in other states. As a result, our economy is dying. What the racist, anti-immigrant crowd doesn’t understand is that we need immigrants. A Minnesota economist has stated that the African, Asian, Latino, and Native American communities in Minnesota account for 1 in 10 businesses owned, 1 in 5 workers, and 1 in 5 dollars earned.

If this invasion is to stop, we must see a unified response from elected Democrats, candidates and patriotic Americans across the nation. It’s not enough to retire Bovino and chastise the puppy killing Noem.

We must see more Republicans follow the lead of a Minnesota candidate for governor who recently left the electoral race and the party in disgust. We cannot wait for the regime to have a change of heart. (It’s no more likely to do that than to release all of the Epstein files.) And we certainly cannot expect the outcome of the midterm elections to rein in the fascists. Given the statements and actions of the Trump regime, those elections may very well never be allowed to happen.

Where Is Democratic Leadership?

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As I’ve previously written, CBP and ICE have deployed 3,000 masked, heavily armed bullies to Minnesota, including the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and their suburbs. For weeks, they have been terrorizing residents by making arrests using illegal and unconstitutional tactics, often brutally ripping innocent citizens from their homes and cars. In the process, they are using an array of internationally banned chemical agents to punish onlookers who are hoping to hold the bullies accountable.

People – citizens and noncitizens alike – are understandably frightened. Businesses are suffering and many will not survive the siege.

During this assault, what have we heard from Democratic leadership? Crickets.

Minnesota state and city leaders have forcefully spoken out, even filing a lawsuit against DHS. Members of Minnesota’s Democratic caucus in Congress have spoken out. But Jeffries and Schumer? They seem unfazed by the unconstitutional actions of Trump’s personal assault team. No press conferences to denounce the situation. No media appearances. Indeed, it has been reported that neither Jeffries nor Schumer tried to convince their colleagues to block additional funding for ICE and CBP!

Why?

Why are Democrats not using every available parliamentary technique to block funding? (Perhaps Schumer should consult Mitch McConnell to learn how to fight the opposition party’s agenda.) Why are they not using every available opportunity to speak to the media? Why are they not screaming from the rooftops?

From the beginning of the Trump regime, Democratic leadership has conceded issue after issue to MAGA without so much as a stern speech on the floors of Congress in the middle of the night. All I see from national Democrats are emails asking for more money.

Meanwhile, the situation in Minnesota could not be more dire!

There are now hundreds, if not thousands of Anne Franks – legal immigrants afraid to leave home who are protected and supplied by neighbors. And, while Minnesota is suffering the brunt of the regime’s brutality, unless they are stopped, they will soon invade other cities and states with the same cruel tactics.

The regime’s disdain for our Constitution and the rule of law is not in question. It is not a matter of political conjecture. It is real. And the very future of our democracy is at a tipping point!

Yet our Democratic leaders seem unfazed. They seem to be content to wait for the midterms. But there is absolutely no certainty that Democrats will take control of Congress as the result of the elections. It’s possible, almost inevitable, that Trump and his regime will steal the elections. Trump has even talked about invoking the Insurrection Act and having the military seize ballot boxes.

We cannot allow that to happen. We must demand that our leaders speak up and fight back. If they won’t, we need new leaders!

The Occupation Of Minnesota.

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In case you are unaware of what is happening, Trump has created a personal army of 30,000 heavily armed, masked thugs (aka ICE and CBP) to do his bidding. A force of 3,000 of those bullies has invaded Minneapolis-St. Paul and surrounding communities on the pretext that they will make our cities safer.

The truth is quite the opposite.

Indeed, these thugs continue to break laws and violate the Constitution. In the cities’ most diverse neighborhoods, masked teams are going door-to-door and demanding residents show their papers.

Everyone with brown or black skin, including Native Americans, are vulnerable to being stopped and brutally detained regardless of their citizenship status. Thousands of nonviolent Minnesotans, including U.S. citizens, have been detained and incarcerated. Minnesota drivers have been pulled over and brutally dragged away in handcuffs – their cars left running in the streets. Some have had their cars rammed by ICE.

Lawless teams of armed masked men are pushing their way through department stores, restaurants and other businesses. They are teargassing legal observers and nonviolent protestors in violation of international law. They are using electronic surveillance of license plates, cell phones, social media and personal data from the newly consolidated government database to identify and intimidate those who record their activities.

At least one foreign visitor who came to Minnesota for medical treatment was detained. In another case, a team of agents without warrant unconstitutionally broke down the door to a home and dragged out one of its residents at gunpoint. Two young women were struck by nonlethal rubber bullets because they were apparently not moving fast enough through a crosswalk. And sadly, a young mother of three was shot and killed for simply trying to protect her neighbors.

Residents – most residents – are scared. Some too frightened to leave their homes or let their children go to school. As a result, many businesses are closed.

Some Minnesotans are purchasing groceries and other essentials  for immigrant families who are afraid to shop for themselves. Others have “adopted” immigrant neighbors who have legal status to help them in case one or more of them are detained.

It’s as if there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Anne Franks in our cities.

You may wonder why our federal government would treat its citizens this way. The answer is a combination of retribution against a “blue” state and theater designed to intimidate and threaten Minnesotans and all other Americans into compliance. Violence is the goal. And it’s escalating.

The New Surveillance And Police State.

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In recent years, the Republican Party and MAGA have constantly cried “Freedom”, believing that Democratic presidents were out to take away their liberty. But ironically, the people they voted for are the ones who are actually suspending the Constitution and taking away our freedoms.

Starting by suspending due process for immigrants, the Trump regime has quickly moved to attack the freedoms of citizens. It has attacked the First Amendment guarantees of free speech in government agencies, universities, and the media. It has violated the Fourth Amendment preventing unreasonable search and seizures, the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial, and the 14th Amendment that gives citizenship to all those born in the United States, leading to a case that is now before SCOTUS.

The regime has initiated numerous attacks on the 15th Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote. Numerous individuals in the regime have openly discussed repealing the 19th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote. In addition, the regime has repeatedly discussed violating the 22nd amendment limiting all presidents, including Trump, to two terms.

And the regime is clearly only getting started.

Billionaire Peter Theil and his Palantir data mining company have helped construct a master government database of all US citizens enabled by the company’s numerous government contracts and Trump’s Executive Order to eliminate information silos. And the creation of the database and the accompanying surveillance network is happening faster than legislators can recognize the threat, let alone craft legislation to control it.

So, all of your personal data, including financial records, tax records, and medical records are all in one place, quickly accessible to anyone with clearance. And since the Trump regime has ordered states to turn over voting records, the database will likely include your party affiliation, political donations and voting history.

Additionally, Homeland Security and ICE are using more than 70,000 LPR (License Plate Reader) cameras to monitor the movements of undocumented immigrants. Of course, the cameras also allow the government to track movements of ordinary citizens, with the FBI and DHS using AI to sort through tips and social media to determine what they believe to be “threats.”

And the entire domestic surveillance network is shielded from oversight by “national security” exemptions.

At the same time, the regime is rapidly increasing the number of masked and armed ICE agents to roughly 30,000. It has also increased ICE’s budget for weapons by $71 million, a 700 percent increase.

But that shouldn’t worry us. We all trust that the Trump regime won’t use its database, cameras and secret police for political purposes, or to interfere with the liberties of American citizens. Right? Right? Right???

How Much Worse Can It Get?

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In just 10 months, the Trump regime has already implemented 48 percent of the actions outlined in Project 2025. Those changes have almost irreparably dimmed the shining city on the hill, previously known as United States of America. But if MAGA and the Trump regime are successful in implementing the entire plan, the nation will become unrecognizable, and our democracy may cease to exist.

Following are just some of the lowlights of the remaining 52 percent:

DHS & IMMIGRATION

  • End the Flores Settlement Agreement, which sets basic standards of care for immigrant children in custody.
  • Enforce income requirements for immigrants obtaining green cards and certain visas blocking entry for most refugees.
  • Repeal Section 235 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which protects unaccompanied minors who are seeking asylum.
  • Eliminate or significantly reduce the number of visas issued to foreign students.
  • End “chain” migration like that of Melania Trump’s parents who followed her to the U.S. as immigrants.
  • Break up the Dept. of Homeland Security or, at least, combine ICE and CBP to form a “Border Security and Immigration Agency”.
  • Block federal grants to sanctuary cities to ensure their cooperation with ICE.
  • Eliminate the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis making us more vulnerable to external threats.
  • Ban mixed-status families (citizens and noncitizens) from living in all federally assisted housing.

ECONOMY AND TREASURY.

  • Enact a two-income tax bracket system that will raise annual taxes by $3,000 for the median family of four.
  • Permanently reduce the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent making it lower than most advanced economies.
  • Abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
  • Eliminate the Federal Reserve mission of full employment.
  • Abolish the Federal Reserve and move to a “free banking” system.
  • Repeal the Corporate Transparency Act which aims to combat money laundering.
  • Repeal key sections of Dodd-Frank Act that was passed following the Great Recession to make the financial system safer for consumers and taxpayers.
  • Withdraw from OECD, the intergovernmental organization that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people worldwide.
  • Privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
  • Limit FHA mortgages to first-time buyers.
  • End cash grants to small businesses (including disaster aid).
  • Allow religious entities to receive Small Business Administration loans.
  • Abolish the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
  • Consider whether the Federal Trade Commission should enforce antitrust laws or even continue to exist.

ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

  • Expand energy exploration in Alaska, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
  • Repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and rescind unobligated funds.
  • Repeal the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and rescind unobligated funds.
  • Eliminate carbon capture utilization and storage programs.
  • Restart the coal leasing program.
  • Eliminate the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
  • Eliminate all considerations of greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Ensure liquified natural gas export applications are approved quickly without consideration of climate change.
  • Reverse Biden-era decisions to retire parts of the nuclear arsenal.
  • Reject the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty for nuclear weapons.
  • Repeal the Antiquities Act of 1906 which gives presidents the power to create national monuments.
  • Repeal the Global Change Research Act of 1990 requiring research of climate change.
  • Eliminate the Office of Public Engagement and Environmental Education.
  • Eliminate the Office of Children’s Health Protection.
  • Eliminate the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance.
  • Undermine the California waiver which allows the state to enact more stringent pollution reduction from vehicles.
  • Eliminate the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP)

FEDERAL ELECTIONS COMMISSION

  • Limit campaign finance enforcement.
  • Raise contribution limits for election campaigns.

FEMA

  • Limit FEMA-issued grants to states that “comply with all aspects of federal immigration laws.
  • Shift the majority of FEMA’s preparedness and response costs to states and localities.
  • Privatize the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program.

INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

  • Re-negotiate intelligence sharing protocols with the EU.
  • Prohibit the intelligence community from monitoring domestic disinformation.

LABOR

  • Close the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; treat the participation in any DEI initiative as grounds for termination.
  • Reclassify thousands of federal employees making it easier to fire career civil servants.
  • Reduce federal employees’ pay and benefits.
  • Weaken or ban federal employee unions.
  • Privatize TSA screening.

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

  • Fund studies on the risks and complications of abortion.
  • Correct “misinformation” about the comparative health and psychological benefits of childbirth vs abortion.
  • Cut federal funding to states that do not provide detailed abortion reports.
  • Prohibit the use of “aborted fetal cells” in developing vaccines.
  • End taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood.
  • Withdraw Biden-era guidance that retail pharmacies must dispense abortion medication and contraception.
  • Eliminate the ACA’s requirement to cover the morning after pill.
  • Withdraw HHS funding, including 10% of Medicaid funds, from states that require private health insurance plans to cover abortion.
  • Restore religious and moral exemptions to the ACA’s contraception requirement.
  • Enforce the Comstock Act to prevent the distribution of abortion pills.
  • Reverse FDA approval of the mifepristone abortion pill or ban telehealth prescriptions and mailing of mifepristone.
  • Prevent the VA from covering abortion services even in cases of rape and incest.
  • End or limit fetal stem cell research and use.

USDA

  • Weaken regulations on baby formula.
  • Repeal or, at minimum, reform Dietary Guidelines.
  • Repeal the federal mandate to label genetically engineered food.
  • Prohibit schools from grouping together to utilize the Community Eligibility Provision that enables those in low-income areas to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students.
  • End broad-based eligibility for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION

  • Reduce disability ratings for future claims, partially reduce for existing claims.
  • Sunset the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection.

How Project 2025 Is Destroying America.

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Remember Project 2025? You know, the plan that Trump denied any knowledge of during the campaign despite previously praising its authors by saying, “This is a great group, and they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do…”

Not surprisingly, many of its authors have been awarded key roles within the White House and government agencies. Indeed, Russell Vaught the key architect of the plan is now Washington’s most powerful man as director of the Office of Management and Budget. And, under his guidance, the Trump regime is radically changing (aka destroying) the federal government.

Far from making America great, it’s destroying the very fabric of our nation as surely as Trump demolished the East Wing of the White House. For example, here are some of the things the Trump regime has done by implementing Project 2025:

  • To ferret out alleged “widespread” waste and abuse, the Trump regime created DOGE, an unelected and unvetted group of twenty somethings who broke laws and violated the Constitution by firing government employees, shutting down numerous agencies, and blocking congressionally approved funding. Even more concerning, they allegedly downloaded the personal information of millions of Americans.
  • Church membership has been falling, so it is imposing Christianity into public schools and workplaces.
  • The rate of births among white Americans has dropped, so it calls for banning all abortions and using the Comstock Act to prevent the delivery of abortion drugs to individuals. It also calls for ending ACA funding of contraceptives.
  • Women and minorities have been gaining rights and positions of authority, so it is attacking DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs to keep them in their place. And to keep women in the home, it calls for ending subsidized day care and, instead, funding at-home daycare payments.
  • To push MAGA’s pro-birth ideology, it prohibited USAID from funding “sexual reproductive health and reproductive rights” and “gender equality” programs. As a result, the regime intends to incinerate nearly $10 million worth of taxpayer-purchased contraceptives.
  • Most highly educated voters support Democrats, so it’s attacking public K-12 education and universities. It is also eliminating the Department of Education.
  • Scientists support many Democratic goals like addressing the climate crisis, so it’s attacking science by defunding agencies like the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It has also withdrawn from the Paris Accords on Climate Change and canceled at least 130 climate and clean energy contracts.
  • The academic freedom of public and private universities permits professors to teach subject matter that is counter to the MAGA ideology, so it is using government contracts as leverage to eliminate DEI and other “woke” policies.
  • MAGA was furious over vaccine and mask mandates during the pandemic. So, Trump withdrew from the World Health Organization and, following Project 2025, he blocked much of the funding for National Institutes for Health and the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC has been decimated leaving us largely unprepared for the next health crisis.
  • Publicly supported independent media pose a threat to autocracy by presenting the unbiased truth, so it rescinded all federal funding for NPR and PBS.
  • The authors of Project 2025 believe we spend too much on foreign aid. So, it all but eliminated USAID and programs such as international disaster aid, food aid and family planning.
  • The Trump crime family has created its own highly speculative cryptocurrencies, so it has reduced regulations by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
  • Corporations have been restricted and held accountable for environmental abuses, so it calls for repealing many of the regulations and lessening protections for vulnerable species.
  • There has been recent growth in worker wages which has reduced corporate profits, so it is attacking labor unions and increases in minimum wages. It’s also increasing unemployment levels through tariffs and other means.
  • Renewables have been quickly replacing fossil fuels, so it calls for replacing incentives for renewables with even more incentives for oil, gas and (choke) coal.
  • The percentages of black and brown minorities have been increasing, so it has expanded ICE and CBP to detain and deport millions of Latinos and blacks. It has also deployed military to help guard our borders.
  • To ensure future MAGA control, it has encouraged MAGA-controlled states to implement extreme gerrymandering and to rig elections by changing voting laws.
  • Schools, museums and other institutions have increased our citizens’ understanding of the nation’s past excesses, such as ethnic cleansing, slavery, and Jim Crow, so it is banning books and rewriting history.
  • It recognizes that nonpartisan federal employees restrain authoritarian power, so it is firing thousands of government workers and replacing them with MAGA loyalists.
  • Government watchdogs, such as Inspectors General, impose ethical standards that restrain corruption, so they have been fired and replaced with loyalists.
  • Trump was furious at attempts to hold him accountable for crimes. So, longtime employees of the Department of Justice and FBI were fired to better weaponize the system against his investigators, prosecutors and political opponents.
  • An independent Congress and judiciary act as restraints to the executive branch, so the regime has taken control of Congress and SCOTUS to cede power to the executive branch.
  • The Constitution is the last barrier to autocracy, so it is simply ignoring it.

Addressing The Nation’s Real Problems.

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MAGA (formerly known as the Republican Party) would have you believe that billionaires don’t have enough money, that multinational corporations don’t have enough power, that our debt is the result of giveaways to poor people, and that immigrants are destroying our nation.

Of course, the opposite is true.

In the meantime, our nation’s real problems and their underlying causes are being ignored by MAGA as well as by some politicians on the left side of the aisle. Indeed, most of the decisions made by the current MAGA regime are making the problems worse!

For example, outside of a widespread nuclear conflict, climate change is the greatest existential threat to the planet. The rise in global temperatures as the result of carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels is not only a threat to humanity in the form of more extreme weather events. It threatens most of the planet’s species. Scientists warn that failure to aggressively address climate change will result in the extinction of more than a million species within a few decades – species that not only make our planet more fascinating and enjoyable. Many of them are species that humans rely on for food. Yet the MAGA regime is eliminating every initiative intended to address the issue. It has revived the oil and coal industries and rolled back regulations on pollution and the emissions of greenhouse gases. At the same time, it has eliminated incentives for solar, wind generation, and electric vehicles.

Such madness will certainly make our planet less livable and cost many thousands of high-paying American jobs. Moreover, the failure to mitigate our changing climate will cost trillions more in rebuilding following storm disasters.

The MAGA intent to remove up to 12 million immigrants is another ongoing MAGA-fueled disaster. ICE has stated that it will remove 600,000 immigrants by the end of the year. In addition, it claims that 2 million immigrants threatened by ICE have left the US on their own. That’s 2.6 million workers. 2.6 million customers of American businesses, and 2.6 million neighbors and friends. And it begs the questions: Who’s going to harvest our fruits and vegetables? Who’s going to process our meat? Who’s going to cook our food, do our landscaping, clean our businesses and hotel rooms, or care for the elderly? The truth is, we need these workers, and our lives and economy will suffer without them.

Next on the list of our problems, but no less serious, is the ongoing consolidation of industries such as grain, meat, agriculture, groceries, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, media, trucking, banking, oil, real estate and more. In fact, most of our industries are controlled by fewer than a dozen corporations. This has led to the extreme wealth disparity in the US along with the near collapse of small and midsized cities and a press that has increasingly prioritized profits and political propaganda over news. In addition, price fixing is an almost inevitable consequence of corporate consolidation. And the political power wielded by these corporate leaders is overwhelming.

At the same time, our bought-and-paid-for government has looked the other way as billionaires and millionaires use their economic muscle to game the stock markets then hide their ill-gotten gains offshore to avoid taxes.

Other pressing issues are a healthcare industry that forces Americans to pay four times more per capita for care than every other advanced nation in the world. Artificial Intelligence is expected to eliminate up to 100 million jobs in the US. Our out-of-control military-industrial complex is given a trillion-dollar annual budget. Yet it has failed audits seven years in a row, and $21 trillion of its taxpayer money is unaccounted for!

Our public education system that was once the envy of the world is being attacked by MAGA. In addition, MAGA has attacked academic freedom leading to a brain drain as some of our best scientific minds leave the US for Canada and Europe. These attacks will have long-term effects, which will allow other nations to surpass our technology.

Not the least of our problems is our unhealthy relationship with guns. Indeed, guns are now the leading cause of death for children. And there are more than 500 mass shootings in the United States each year. MAGA tells us that’s the price of having the Second Amendment to prevent tyranny. Yet thanks to MAGA, a tyrant has taken over the White House without firing a shot.

What Is Patriotism?

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Today’s conservatives are fond of calling themselves patriots. But is there really a patriot among them? Their support for the Felon-in-Chief and their acceptance of his dismantling of our government would indicate otherwise.

Patriotism is defined as “devotion and vigorous support for one’s country.” How does that square with those who watched, or even applauded, as the Trump regime encouraged and then pardoned insurrectionists who violently tried to overturn an election? How does it fit with those who support a twice-impeached president that has repeatedly violated numerous sections and amendments to the US Constitution? How does it describe those who have chosen Party over country? Who have approvingly watched as Dear Leader uses the justice department to attack his political opponents? Who have silently stood by as the regime builds a 32,000-member version of Hitler’s gestapo that arrests people who are legally in this country, denying both immigrants and citizens due process?

None of that. I repeat, none of that is patriotic. Indeed, it’s very much the opposite!

Far from being patriots, the MAGA cult consists almost entirely of racial and socio-economic bullies. Bullies who believe they are superior by birthright. Bullies who demand that others do as they say. Some strut around with weapons and tactical gear to intimidate political opponents. Others hide their true feelings from the public. But when they are exposed, as were the texts between leaders of Young Republicans, it’s clear that they are antisocial, antidemocratic, anti-Semitic racists and fascists.

To be clear, these Young Republicans aren’t exceptions. They are representative of the entire MAGA cult. They were encouraged and promoted by the likes of Charlie Kirk, vice-president J.D. Vance, speaker MAGA Mike Johnson and the Putinesque fascist who has taken up residence in the Oval Office.

Of course, in public many of the cult members recite passages from the Bible to justify their actions and claim to be Christians while ignoring every aspect of Christ’s teachings. They claim to support “family values” even as they cheer on the ICEstapo as it rips families apart. They take perverse joy in threatening and abusing innocents, especially immigrants. They talk and act tough. But at their core, they are soulless, mindless cowards.

Others of the cult use their wealth and positions within large corporations to manipulate the government and the economy to serve their personal interests, not caring about the effects of their actions on those who cling to lower rungs of the economic ladder.

No amount of flag waving and Bible thumping can excuse the actions of these people or make them what they claim to be. All of that is mere theater. In fact, the more they wave the flag and the more they proselytize, the more clear it becomes that they are imposters. And that their “patriotism” fails to extend beyond themselves and their self-interests.

Our nation’s Founders went to great lengths to create a constitution that would prevent tyranny. And history provides many examples and warnings of how tyrants rise to power. Yet these so-called patriots have not only ignored those warnings. They have voted a tyrant into office, and many continue to cheer him on as he accumulates power and diminishes our freedoms.

Such people are not patriots. They’re losers and traitors. And they’re as phony as the gilded yard sale trash that’s now tacked all over the walls of the White House.