Category Archives: Environment

Kakistocracy? Idiocracy? Kleptocracy? Oligarchy? Theocracy? Or Autocracy?

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I admit to being flummoxed by how best to describe our current regime, er, administration. A government of the worst and most unscrupulous blowhards? A government by self-serving and unqualified incompetents? A government designed to fill its leaders’ bank accounts with taxpayer money? A government run by democracy-hating billionaires? A government based on ethically and morally challenged evangelic Christianity. Or a banana republic-like dictatorship?

In truth, I believe it’s an amalgamation of them all.

Consider that it is being led by Felon-in-Chief Donald J. Trump, the 34-count convicted felon, adjudicated sexual assaulter, three-time adulterer, insurrection-leading conman, and former best pal of Jeffrey Epstein who spends most of his time golfing and rage posting on social media. His greatest accomplishments are hiding his alleged sex abuse of 13-year-old girls, regrowing his ear following an alleged assassination attempt, demolishing the East Wing of the White House, starting an economy-crushing unnecessary war, plastering his name and face all over government buildings, building monuments to himself, and using his office to fill the Trump family coffers with $4 billion during his first year in office.

Second in command is Vice-President James Donald Bowman, aka James David Humel, aka J.D. Vance, a deceitful author turned politician who was financed by the anti-democratic billionaire and government contractor, Peter Thiel. Among the most devoted of Trump bootlickers, the Veep’s greatest achievement is his ability to so frequently fit his size 11 shoe in his mouth. In a display of supreme hubris, the recent convert even lectured the Pope on the finer points of Catholicism.

There’s Acting Attorney General (emphasis on acting) Todd Blanche who has continued his role as Trump’s personal attorney to file Trumped-up charges against the Felon-in-Chief’s perceived enemies. Of course, he follows the more famous, more combative and more hateful Pam Bondi who was apparently brushed aside for releasing the Epstein files without clearly exonerating Dear Leader.

In charge of our nation’s health is HHS Secretary RFK Jr., the vaccine denier with a brain worm whose accomplishments include dining on roadkill and stopping his car to cut the penis off a dead racoon as his wife and children watched. He has singlehandedly brought measles back from eradication and is ambitiously cueing up the next pandemic.

The “Director of War” is Pete Hegseth, a hard-drinking, Bible-thumping Christian Nationalist and racist who has blown through the world’s largest military budget in record time while decapitating the top leadership of our military and publicly advocating war crimes.

At the helm of DHS is Markwayne Mullin, the three-win MMA fighter turned politician who notoriously physically threatened his Senate colleagues. It remains to be seen if he can be as successful as his predecessor, ICE Barbie, in advocating brutality while cheating taxpayers out of hundreds of millions for luxury jets and self-aggrandizing TV commercials.

The rest of this Cabinet of clowns and misfits are relatively silent partners in the regime doing the Felon’s bidding but escaping public attention. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick is the primary proponent of inflation-inducing illegal tariffs and infamous guest of Jeffrey Epstein’s magical island of sex trafficking and abuse. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has given us the Felon’s signature on our currency and the creation of a Trump coin. The queen of pro wrestling, Linda McMahon, seems to have but one assignment – the demolition of public education. Similarly, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, seem to have been given the task of destroying our nation’s wildlands and poisoning our air and water.

And don’t forget Secretary of State Marco Rubio who seems to ideally fit the description jack of all trades and master of none. What he is good at is making things disappear. If there’s a task the Felon wants everyone to forget about, he simply piles it on Magic Marco’s desk and voila, you never hear about it again.

Finally, we must acknowledge the a**holes behind the scenes: Stephen Miller and Russell Vought. Miller acts as a Mafia-like caporegime for the Felon to initiate and oversee the regime’s most racist and cruel policies. While Director of Management and Budget Russell Vought acts as a reverse Robin Hood, taking money from the poor to give to the rich. He is also lead author of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s agenda intended to transform the American Dream into the American Nightmare. One in which the Executive Branch controls all the levers of power without restraint.

It’s as if our nation’s largest rival and global threat, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, handpicked our government leaders to dismantle NATO, weaken our military, accelerate climate change, impoverish tens of millions, and destroy the world’s greatest democracy.

And it’s not as if we had no warning of what might happen in the Felon’s second term. All you had to do was read the Muller Report, the court reports, and watch the videos from January 6.

The Astonishing Costs Of Trump’s War.

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So far, 13 U.S. military members have been killed and more than 380 wounded in the Trump war on Iran. And it’s estimated that at least 2,000 Iranians have been killed – most of them civilians. As of April 9, the U.S. has struck more than 13,000 targets in Iran – 9,000 in the first 24 days and an average of 300 to 500 every day since. And that doesn’t include the military strikes carried out by the Israelis.

The targets have included missile launch sites, Iranian naval ships, Iranian nuclear enrichment sites, military and government facilities, refineries, and oil depots, as well as at least one elementary school, numerous universities, and residential areas. So, the number of fatalities in Iran are likely much higher. And there are undoubtedly thousands of wounded.

That is the horrific human cost of this ill-conceived and unnecessary war. And the monetary costs, though replaceable, are simply astonishing.

It has been estimated that the build-up prior to the war cost $370 million and that it is costing $18 million per day to operate our two carrier groups in the Middle East. Additionally, the U.S. and Israel have each dropped 18,000 bombs on Iran at a cost to the U.S. of at least $5.8 billion in just the first two weeks. And, without congressional approval, the Trump regime gave $11 billion in military aid to Israel to replenish the munitions it used. (Of course, that’s in addition to the $21.7 billion in military aid sent to Israel since October 7, 2023.)

Other costs of the war include:

  • $270 million for the three F-15s lost
  • $200 million for the two C-130s lost
  • $19 million for the A-10 Warthog shot down
  • $300-500 million for the AWACs jet destroyed by Iran
  • $237 million for the three KC-135 refueling jets lost
  • $600-$900 million for the 12,000 combat sorties flown at a cost $50,000 per hour
  • $195,000-$220,000 for each precision-guided bomb dropped
  • $4,000 for each standard un-guided bomb dropped
  • $100,000 for each JDAM missile fired
  • $2.9 billion for the 850 Tomahawk missiles fired
  • $3.5 million for each JASSM missile fired
  • $3.5 million for each GBU-57 bunker buster bomb dropped
  • $200,000-500,000 for each GBU-58 bunker buster bomb dropped

All of that is in addition to the billions that will be spent on rebuilding our military installations in the Middle East that were destroyed by Iran, or the untold millions in damages to our allies in the region. Of course, there is also the $500 billion the Trump regime hopes to add to our bloated $1 trillion military budget for next year. And, on top of all that is the unknown billions being spent on goods and services as a result of inflation caused by the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz limiting the shipment of 20 percent of the world’s oil.

There’s also the disastrous effect on the environment from the carbon clouds billowing from the oil and refining facilities that have been struck.

But perhaps the biggest casualty of all is the damage to the U.S. reputation as a reliable ally and peacemaker – a champion for dignity and the rights of all our planet’s residents. That damage will last for a generation or more.

Paying For An Ill-Conceived War.

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After starting an unnecessary and likely unwinnable war costing more than a billion dollars a day, the Trump regime is planning to increase the already bloated military budget by half a trillion dollars – raising it to an astonishing $1.5 trillion, which would make it approximately $350 billion more than the military budgets of the next 14 nations combined!

To pay for it, the regime plans to cut programs that impact the environment, education, healthcare, small business, infrastructure, and much more. Things that impact the lives of most Americans – except, of course, Trump’s family and the host of oligarchs who helped finance his election campaign, his inauguration, his corruption, his grotesque ballroom, and his planned Arch de Trump.

Following is the full list of the proposed cuts*:

$510 million – Grants for farmers and agricultural research
$82 million – Loans for rural small businesses (Fully eliminated)
$61 million – Support for farmers and food markets (Fully eliminated)
$240 million – School meals and food education for children abroad (Fully eliminated)
$659 million – Community building grants
$47 million – Support for minority-owned businesses (Fully eliminated)
$449 million – Economic development grants for communities
$1.6 billion – Weather forecasting, fisheries, and coastal protection (NOAA)
$993 million – Scientific research and technology standards
$150 million – Support for American exports and trade
$2.2 billion – Broadband and internet access programs
$8.5 billion – Funding for public schools
$1.5 billion – Vocational training and adult education (Fully eliminated)
$2.7 billion – College access and higher education support
$15.2 billion – Roads, bridges, and infrastructure projects
$1.1 billion – Home energy efficiency and clean energy programs (Fully eliminated)
$1.1 billion – Scientific research funding
$386 million – Environmental cleanup programs
$150 million – Cutting-edge clean energy research
$4 billion – Help paying home heating and cooling bills for low-income families (Fully eliminated)
$768 million – Refugee resettlement assistance
$819 million – Care and shelter for migrant children
$775 million – Local anti-poverty programs (Fully eliminated)
$5 billion – Public health programs, mental health services, and disease prevention
$5 billion – Medical research (NIH)
$129 million – Healthcare quality and safety research
$356 million – Emergency preparedness and disaster response
$1.3 billion – FEMA community disaster preparedness grants
$707 million – Cybersecurity protection for critical infrastructure
$52 million – Airport and transportation security
$40 million – Protection against chemical and biological weapons threats
$53 million – Funding for homeland security operations
$3.3 billion – Community development block grants (Fully eliminated)
$1.3 billion – Affordable housing construction grants (Fully eliminated)
$393 million – Programs to reduce homelessness
$529 million – Housing assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS (Fully eliminated)
$489 million – Housing and services for Native American communities
$50 million – Grants to help communities build more housing (Fully eliminated)
$60 million – Enforcement of fair housing laws
$58 million – Homebuyer and renter counseling (Fully eliminated)
$45 million – Renewable energy development (Fully eliminated)
$1.7 billion – Local law enforcement and public safety grants
$20 million – Civil rights mediation and legal access (Fully eliminated)
$1.6 billion – Job training for at-risk youth (Fully eliminated)
$395 million – Jobs for low-income seniors (Fully eliminated)
$234 million – Worker safety programs
$101 million – Equal pay and workplace protections
$46 million – Anti-child labor programs abroad
$2 billion – International humanitarian aid
$1.2 billion – Food aid abroad (Fully eliminated)
$4.3 billion – Global health programs
$2.7 billion – United Nations and international partnerships
$642 million – International economic programs
$315 million – Democracy and anti-corruption programs
$486 million – Public transit grants
$4.2 billion – EV charging infrastructure
$372 million – Rural airline service
$145 million – Sustainable infrastructure grants
$204 million – Investment for underserved communities
$1.4 billion – IRS taxpayer services
$100 million – Air pollution programs (Fully eliminated)
$1 billion – EPA environmental grants
$2.5 billion – Clean water infrastructure
$90 million – Diesel pollution reduction (Fully eliminated)
$3.4 billion – NASA science programs
$297 million – NASA innovation
$1.1 billion – International Space Station
$143 million – STEM education
$309 million – Small business development
$170 million – SBA operations
$158 million – Small business loans

This isn’t making America great. It’s not improving American lives. It’s not making America safer. It’s making America unrecognizable.

(*Source: MeidasTouch)

Measuring The Trump Regime 2.0.

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When Trump campaigned for a second term, he promised to cut costs, lower inflation, reduce taxes, close the borders, and deport “the worst of the worst”. He also promised to bring peace to Ukraine and the Middle East, and to avoid any more “forever” wars.

So, what has his regime actually done?

  • Dismantled, or attempted to dismantle, much of the federal government.
  • Fired thousands of government employees replacing expertise and experience with loyalty.
  • Pardoned 1,600 criminals, including seditionists and drug traffickers.
  • Shuttered USAID leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of foreigners living in abject poverty.
  • Proclaimed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
  • Threatened to make Canada the 51st state.
  • Threatened to invade Greenland.
  • Threatened to invade Cuba.
  • Threatened to invade Mexico.
  • Violated the Constitution by accepting a $400 million aircraft from Qatar.
  • Forced the Smithsonian and National Parks to remove references to slavery and our genocide of Native Americans.
  • Removed high-ranking black and female officers from the military.
  • Cut ACA subsidies making healthcare unaffordable for millions of Americans.
  • Illegally withheld funds from Planned Parenthood clinics.
  • Forced law firms and universities to kowtow by withholding federal funds.
  • Attacked freedom of the press by filing frivolous lawsuits against media for publishing unflattering stories, helping engineer the takeover of CBS and CNN by a MAGA friendly billionaire, and threatening to revoke media broadcast licenses unless they behave as more regime friendly.
  • Attacked freedom of speech by pressuring networks to remove Colbert and Kimmel, deporting international students for standing up for Palestine, and arresting peaceful demonstrators.
  • Increased inflation through illegal tariffs and his war on Iran.
  • Paved over Jackie Kennedy’s Rose Garden.
  • Uglified the Oval Office with hundreds of golden trinkets and doodads.
  • Destroyed the East Wing of America’s House (the White House) without permission or prior notice.
  • Placed Trump’s name on the JFK Center for the Arts before closing it for 2 years.
  • Released the Epstein files after redacting the names of predators while revealing the names of victims.
  • Removed the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords and set about further destroying the environment by returning to coal-fired power plants and permitting oil drilling on environmentally sensitive lands, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
  • Illegally executed small boat operators in international waters claiming they were carrying drugs.
  • Weaponized the DOJ to falsely charge Trump’s political enemies with crimes.
  • Expanded ICE and CBP into a large, heavily armed police force answering only to Trump with the intent of arresting and deporting 1 million residents per year.
  • Sent masked, armed thugs into Democratic-led cities where they arrested and terrorized lawful residents and ignored the constitutional right to due process. Operation Metro Surge resulted in $200 million in economic damages to the City of Minneapolis and the murders of 2 U.S. citizens.
  • Weakened alliances with longtime allies and threatened to leave NATO.
  • Against international law, illegally sent troops into Venezuela to capture its president and his wife.
  • Along with Israel, began an illegal, and likely unwinnable, war against Iran committing numerous war crimes, including the bombing of an elementary school, universities and civilian residences.
  • Violated at least 19 provisions of the U.S. Constitution.
  • Spent $100 million of taxpayer money on golf outings with the expectation it will exceed $300 million by the end of Trump’s term.
  • Used the presidency to unconstitutionally enrich the Trump family by at least $4 billion.
  • Increased the national debt by $2.7 trillion thus far by cutting taxes on billionaires and multinational corporations.

When you elect a criminal convicted of 34 felonies you shouldn’t be surprised when he does criminal things. It’s not America first. It’s Trump first.

The Political Division That’s Most Concerning.

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It’s not left versus right. It’s left versus left. Those who believe in democracy, human rights and a safe environment versus those who believe in democracy, human rights and a safe environment.

What do I mean by that?

By now it should be abundantly clear that the Felon-in-Chief and his MAGA followers are leading our nation down a path toward oligarchy and dictatorship. They’re succeeding in great part because the resistance has been fragmented and largely rudderless.

For many years, involved and caring voters have been split amongst a wide variety of single-issue organizations focused on guns, homelessness, hunger, wildlife, animal rights, air and water quality, climate change, sustainable energy, racial and gender equity, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, indigenous rights, immigrant rights, organized labor, religious freedom, Palestinian rights, Ukraine, healthcare, public education, reining in military spending, tax fairness, voting rights, breaking up corporate monopolies, etc., etc.

All of these issues are important, and I have personally supported most of them. But we are now facing an ideological movement that vehemently opposes progress toward each of these goals. Indeed, those in control of MAGA have pushed policies that are directly counter to them. And they now control all three branches of government, as well as much of the media.

If patriotic and caring people are to interrupt our nation’s slide into tyranny, we must set aside any inclination to base our votes on single or self-serving issues. We must come together and focus on what really matters. That doesn’t mean we have to abandon the goals we care about most. It means we have to ensure that we have a government that will allow us to pursue those goals.

There is only one issue that is important now: Saving our democracy. Period.

Trump Regime Prioritizing War Over Families.

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The Trump regime has stated that the cost of its attacks on Iran cost $5.6 billion in advanced munitions for just the first two days. And it has been estimated that the ongoing war has cost our military more than $1 billion per day since. Given that the war is now in its eleventh day, that means we will have already spent roughly $14.6 billion. And that doesn’t include the $300 million cost of the three F-15s that were mistakenly shot down by Kuwait or the billions needed to rebuild or replace military installations in Bahrain, UAE, and Kuwait.

Of course, there’s also the $370 million cost of the military build-up prior to the war, including the operating costs of two carrier groups. Plus, the $11 billion for replenishing Israeli munitions sent to Israel without congressional approval and the proposed $50 billion bill being sought for replenishing our own munitions. All of which adds to our $1.8 trillion deficit and could have been far better used to provide affordable healthcare access and food for hungry Americans.

In addition, there’s the economic costs of the war – the lost oil production, the hikes in oil prices, and the increased costs you pay at the gasoline pump, all of which contribute to inflation.

And don’t forget the human costs of the war: The 170 schoolgirls killed by a U.S. Tomahawk missile, the likely thousands of Iranian civilians killed or displaced by U.S. and Israeli strikes, the seven U.S. soldiers killed by Iran, and the nearly 1 million Lebanese displaced by the Israeli bombing of Beirut.

And what has the war accomplished?

The Trump and Israeli regimes have killed the 86-year-old supreme leader along with much of Iran’s leadership only to see him replaced by a younger, more violent supreme leader. We likely haven’t seriously ended Iran’s desire to build nuclear weapons. (In fact, we probably have made them more committed to that goal than ever before.) We have further destabilized the region. We have caused serious damage to the environment. We have caused a large portion of Iran’s 90 million population to hate us. And we have almost certainly inspired more Iranians to commit acts of terrorism against us.

On the other hand, it did create a significant distraction from the Epstein files, it provided cover for the continued takeover of Palestinian lands in the West Bank, and it promises to keep Israel’s cabinet of genocidal war criminals in power for years to come.

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.

The Most Murderous Regime In U.S. History.

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As has been previously discussed, the Trump cult appears to view its leader as the savior of America, a man of God, the second coming of the Messiah. If so, Trump must serve a cruel and loathsome deity, since the Felon-in-Chief is responsible for millions of deaths. And he’s only halfway through the first year of his second term.

Think that statement is hyperbolic? Then consider the following:

A 2020 study in The Lancet led by professors at Harvard Medical School and the University of California at San Francisco found that the first Trump administration’s health policies led to 461,000 unnecessary U.S. deaths annually, plus 22,000 avoidable deaths annually from its environmental policies. Moreover, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimated the death toll from Trump’s failed response to Covid-19 had reached 1,120,000 by January 2023.

In the current Trump regime, cuts to USAID are estimated to result in the unnecessary deaths of 14 million people by 2030, including 4.5 million children. (Thankfully, Congress restored $400 million in cuts to the PEPFAR program in a rare rebuke of Trump. Otherwise, there could have been an additional 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths over the next four years.)

Further, scientists from Yale and the University of Pennsylvania estimate that 42,500 vulnerable Americans may die each year as a result of health care cuts mandated by the Republican’s Big Ugly Bill. They warn that the cuts to hospitals and clinics, especially in rural areas, could be devastating to communities.

The regime’s plans to deport more than a million immigrants a year, the vast majority of which are only guilty of wanting to work hard and improve their families’ lives, is not just a blow to our communities and our industries. It will almost certainly be deadly. How many of our neighbors will die as a result of being forced to return to the nations they fled to escape war, gang violence, poverty and political retribution?

Appallingly, the Trump regime has also turned its back on the ongoing genocide in Gaza. By failing to support relief efforts by the UN and numerous European nations, the regime could be at least partially responsible for more than 500,000 Palestinians dying of starvation. And those who are spared from famine are likely to be displaced once again as Netanyahu and Trump have called for the relocation of 1.2 million Gazans.

Combined, the death toll from the first Trump administration and his current regime’s actions could total more than 16.8 million!!! Moreover, if Trump and his regime continue to deny the climate crisis, the death toll could rise to hundreds of millions more, if not the entire population of the planet.