Category Archives: Religion

Proof Of Trump’s Sedition.

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If there was ever a question that the Felon launched the January 6 insurrection, it has been clearly answered by his actions since returning to the Oval Office.

On the first day of his second term, he pardoned nearly 1,600 of his thug supporters who were awaiting trial, had pled guilty, or were convicted of crimes ranging from conspiracy to commit sedition to brutally beating capitol police officers to obstructing an official proceeding to unlawfully entering and vandalizing a restricted area. And, although no one was charged with the crime, it was also clear that many of those arrested planned to murder VP Mike Pence in addition to Democratic senators and representatives.

In his congressional testimony, special prosecutor Jack Smith testified that he not only had obtained grand jury indictments against the Felon for leading the insurrection and trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. But he firmly believes he had enough evidence to secure a conviction. After all, there is an abundance of video of the plot as it unfolded.

Yet the Felon has indicated that he plans to reward his thuggish January 6 followers with $1.7 billion of taxpayer funds as compensation for their efforts!

Combined, all of that would surely be enough evidence to get a conviction of sedition in any court in the land. But sadly, it’s not enough to sway a single Republican to vote for impeachment, let alone a conviction.

That should tell you everything you need to know about the MAGA/Republican Party’s willingness to see justice and our constitution corrupted in its quest for power. It is certainly no longer the “party of law and order” it claimed to be.

Moreover, the party’s actions speak volumes about the lack of patriotism, ethics and morality of those who voted for the 34-count convicted felon. They not only set aside the standard that normally prevents a felon from holding office. A significant percentage of voters was willing to overlook his convictions for fraud and a jury’s decision that he had committed sexual assault, as well as the numerous and credible accusations of rape, including that of a 13-year-old!

Of course, there’s the Access Hollywood tape in which he brags about grabbing women between the legs and walking into the dressing room of the Miss Teen USA pageant to see contestants naked. There’s his longtime friendship with a convicted pedophile and sex trafficker, his adultery and philandering, his many thousands of lies, his delight in acts of cruelty, his obvious ties to Russia, our nation’s greatest external threat, and his obvious mishandling of the nation’s secrets.

But none of that seemed to matter to millions of Americans. They claim to have voted for the man because he promised them lower grocery prices – prices that had become inflated due to his policies and mishandling of the pandemic during his previous term in office.

Even now, many of those voters are willing to overlook spiraling inflation caused by his folly in Iran, his corruption of our justice system and many of our most beloved institutions, his dictatorial and narcissistic behavior, his obvious dementia, and his unconstitutional use of the government to enrich his family. For them, his racism and misogyny aren’t faults, they’re strengths.

Contrary to his supporters’ beliefs, he’s not the second coming of Christ. He’s the second coming of Idi Amin.

The Coming Reckoning.

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In the 1930s and late 1960s, the U.S. experienced unparalleled social progress under Democratic leadership that made life better for the vast majority of Americans. In the 1930s, we saw the official end of the Gilded Age along with the economic rescue of millions of Americans after the Great Depression thanks to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR also created Social Security which meant that after a lifetime of work most Americans could finally experience a comfortable retirement.

Though he is most known for a war he did not start, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. He also created Medicare and Medicaid as part of his war on poverty.

Though he never served as president, Ralph Nader had an enormous impact on our quality of life in the 1970s. As a result of his efforts, the Freedom of Information Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Clean Water Act, the Consumer Product Safety Act, and the Whistleblower Protection Act were born. He also influenced the creation of the EPA to help clean up our environment and OSHA to improve the safety of workers.

In 1998, 1999, 2000 and part of 2001, after digging us out of a recession, President Bill Clinton oversaw federal budget surpluses for the first time in decades. This despite the fact that he invested heavily in education and technology, in additional police to lower crime, and in health initiatives such as the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Earned Income Tax Credit to help low-income families.

President Barack Obama continued the tradition of Democratic presidents repairing the economy after Republican shortcomings by digging us out of the Great Recession. He also created the Affordable Care Act to give tens of millions of Americans access to affordable health insurance. In addition, he pushed for initiatives to mitigate climate change.

And, like Democratic presidents before him, President Joe Biden rescued the economy following the botched pandemic response. He succeeded in getting an infrastructure bill passed after many before him had failed. And he oversaw historic investments in clean energy.

For their part, Republicans have almost universally fought all of these accomplishments along the way. Beginning with President Nixon, we have seen increased attacks on voting rights. And beginning with President Reagan, we have experienced the growth of corporate consolidation and wealth disparity until, in 2014, the U.S. was officially recognized as an oligarchy, which Wikipedia defines as “a type of political system in which the wealthiest citizens deploy unique and concentrated power to defend their unique minority interests.”

In other words, for decades politicians and their benefactors have rigged our government for their personal gain to the point that a significant percentage of our population feels so helpless they want to tear it all down. We’ve watched politics become a profession. We’ve witnessed unparalleled corruption by politicians and corporate leaders as they mortgage our nation’s future.

For example, the national debt now exceeds our GDP as a result of too many wars of choice which have led to uncontrolled military spending. Adding to the problem is the loss of revenue from continuous tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. Former high-paying jobs have been shipped overseas so corporations can avoid paying worker benefits in their never-ending quest for increased corporate profits. Most industries have been captured by a few corporations that too often collude with one another to fix prices and flex their lobbying muscle for special treatment. This corporate consolidation has led to the collapse of many communities, especially in rural areas. Meanwhile multinationals and foreign corporations have set about controlling agriculture by swallowing up farmland and groundwater sources.

Americans’ overall health and lifespan have been diminished as a result of food scarcity, poor nutrition and lack of access to healthcare. Despite overpowering evidence of the causes and consequences of climate change, the oligarchs and many politicians have buried their heads in the sand refusing to acknowledge that it will devastate our planet with mass extinctions of species (maybe our own) along with extreme weather events, increased wildfires, sea level rise and weakening ocean currents. In addition, climate change is leading to mass migration which places stress on host nations often ending with human rights violations as we’ve seen in the U.S.

The extraction of commodities such as lumber, fossil fuels and minerals is given priority over our more important natural resources such as clean air and water, healthy forests, the diversity of wildlife and even human lives.

Moreover, our Constitution is under attack as never before. Billionaire oligarchs have taken control of our media turning long-standing news organizations into propaganda outlets that ignore reality and spew misinformation to advance their interests. Religion, race, gender and sexual preference are again being used as weapons to distract and divide us.

We are finally reaching the point where our democracy and our corrupted economy can no longer coexist. It is time for a reckoning.

It is time for congressional term limits and accountability for corruption. It is time for an effective FEC, election transparency, and limits on campaign financing. It is time to eliminate all forms of voter suppression and to make Election Day a national holiday. It is time for a strong FCC and the restoration of the Fairness Doctrine. It is time for a truly independent judiciary and Department of Justice. It is time for a wealth tax and real tax fairness. It is time for the application of antitrust laws, the reversal of Buckley v Valeo and the overturning of Citizens United.

It is time for universal healthcare and effective gun laws. It is time to fully fund and restore our public education system that was once the envy of the world. It is time to restore our international standing and strengthen relationships with allies.

And perhaps most important of all, it is time to address climate change with the urgency it requires as if the future of our planet depends on it. Because it does.

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 Oppressed Become The Oppressors.

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The bullied become the bullies.

At the risk of being labeled antisemitic (I most certainly am not!!!), I believe it’s time to hold the Israeli Zionist leadership accountable for its role in the ongoing violence and hatred in the Middle East. To begin, we must recognize that Israel has a right to exist. But we also must understand that Americans have been fed a one-sided account of the situation by religious institutions, the government, and Israeli lobbyists, as well as the media and entertainment industries.

To understand the current situation, a little history is in order.

The problems began in the late 1800s and early 1900s with the founding of the World Zionist Organization and the resettlement into Palestine of tens of thousands of Jews escaping persecution in Europe and Russia. (I think we can all agree that all humans have a right to live in peace free from persecution, including Jews and Palestinians.)

When, following WWI, the League of Nations authored the British Mandate recognizing British rule over Palestine and Transjordan, hundreds of thousands more Jews arrived in the area. At first, they purchased land and lived in concert with ethnic Palestinians who had occupied the area for generations. But, as millions more Jews immigrated during the build-up to WWII, conflicts began. In response, the British attempted to limit further immigration and recommended that an independent Palestine, governed jointly by Palestinians and Jews, be established within 10 years.

After the horrors of the Holocaust (the Nazi genocide of European Jews and other ethnic groups), illegal immigration into Palestine soared, resulting in Jews comprising 33 percent of the population. When Britain asked the United Nations for help, the UN recommended that the land be divided into a Jewish state and a Palestinian state, and that Jerusalem be placed under an international trusteeship.

When the British Mandate was terminated in 1948, Britain withdrew from the area, and a civil war broke out as Jews tried to claim more land. When Jews declared independence and created the nation of Israel, the war expanded into a regional conflict with war crimes committed by both sides and ending in the Nakba with Jews taking 55 percent of the land and violently displacing more than 700,000 Palestinian residents who were forced into refugee camps in Gaza and Jordan.

Not surprisingly, that spawned an enduring hatred amongst the Palestinians who were determined to return to their homes. Those who continued to fight were, of course, labeled terrorists (a convenient label that can be applied by those on either side of a fight). The war also angered Israel’s Arab neighbors who were forced to accept Palestinian refugees. Then, in 1967, Israel initiated a pre-emptive strike against its Arab neighbors, capturing the Sinai, Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.

In reality, the wars have never ended.

Israel has controlled all movement in and out of Palestinian lands for decades limiting weapons, even food and medical supplies. When frustrated Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli soldiers, the soldiers were ordered to shoot at their legs. In addition, Israel began imprisoning Palestinians indefinitely without charges and without trial. (3,329 by the end of 2025.)

More violent Palestinian attacks on Israel have been met with mass killings and destruction, the latest following the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,100 Israelis. In response, Israel committed what Amnesty International, and others have called a genocide and on-going humanitarian crisis by turning most of Gaza into rubble. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed more than 75,000 Palestinians, wounding an additional 171,000 and displacing more than 75,000. Since then, the IDF have also killed more than 560 humanitarian aid workers, along with more than 1,700 healthcare workers, and roughly 300 journalists. During the obliteration of Gaza, medical volunteers from the U.S. also reported dozens of cases of young children, including toddlers, being shot in the head by Israeli snipers.

Palestinian blood scarcely had time to dry in Gaza before Israel turned its attention to the West Bank, Lebanon and Iran.

In the West Bank, Israeli settlers and soldiers continue to brutally attack and kill Palestinians at will. They have razed Palestinian homes and olive groves in clear attempts to ethnically cleanse the land.

In Lebanon, the goal seems the same. Israel has set about creating a “buffer zone” for Israeli safety. That’s code for carpet bombing a swath of Lebanon, including Beirut, killing any Lebanese civilians who either refuse or are unable to leave. Those attacks have resulted in many thousands of Lebanese killed or wounded.

And to eliminate the threat of Iran as a regional power, Israel’s war criminal Netanyahu talked our own war criminal in the White House into launching a pre-emptive war on Iran. So far, that has led to the death of Iran’s supreme leader, in addition to the bombing of government buildings, military sites, at least one elementary school, universities, and residential buildings. In all, the U.S. has claimed to have flown more than 12,000 combat sorties over Iran and fired more than 850 Tomahawk missiles. And, within the first three weeks of the war, Israel had dropped more than 12,000 bombs – more than 3,600 on the city of Tehran. All to prevent potential Iranian-sponsored attacks from Hezbollah.

Is it any wonder that Israel has asked American taxpayers to pay for tens of billions in more weaponry?

Certainly, terrorist groups from Iran, Lebanon and other Middle Eastern nations have sporadically attacked Israelis since the 1948 Nakba resulting in more than 5,000 Israeli deaths. But over that same time span, Israel has killed more than 130,000 Palestinians – mostly civilians. Indeed, the stated belief of at least one Israeli military leader is that for each Israeli death, 50 Palestinians must die.

As long as that mentality exists, the war will never end as each death radicalizes family members and friends.

Perhaps even more worrisome is the belief held by many Zionists that they cannot stop their expansionist wars until the “Promised Land” is reunited – a view shared by Christian evangelicals who believe that will lead to the return of their Messiah and the rapture of all true believers. Of course, that would mean that the state of Israel would include parts of modern-day Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Iraq. Such an expansion would only further broaden the conflict, creating endless deaths and destruction

It’s long past time for this cycle of violence to stop! A good place to start would be ending all arms shipments to the bullies at the center of it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Dishonest Reframing Of Operation Arctic Frost.

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With Senator Chuck Grassley’s description of an FBI and DOJ investigation targeting rightwing groups code-named “Artic Frost,” it would appear that the Biden administration had politicized and weaponized the government against Republican organizations.

But that narrative doesn’t fit the reality of the time.

Keep in mind that the operation began following a violent attempted coup at the nation’s capital and a coordinated attempt to overturn a free and fair election – all orchestrated by Trump and a variety of rightwing groups, including Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA. Indeed, prior to the insurrection, Kirk posted that Turning Point Action would send more than 80 busloads of Trump supporters to Washington, DC to “fight for the president.”

Other conservative groups conspired to illegally replace legitimate electors as part of the Stop The Steal scheme. And Trump, himself, was recorded demanding the Georgia Secretary of State to illegally “find” the 11,780 votes necessary to hand him the 2020 election.

All of that goes well beyond ordinary politics – well beyond Watergate. It undermines the very foundation of our nation and crosses the line into conspiracy to commit multiple felonies, including sedition.

To further put Operation Arctic Frost into context, the FBI had long ago identified rightwing groups as the most prolific source of domestic terrorism. {Think Timothy McVeigh’s bombing in Oklahoma City aimed at the FBI, a rightwing militia’s attempt to kidnap the Democratic governor of Michigan, and the murder of Minnesota Democratic legislator Melissa Hortman.)

In fact, over the past 10 years, rightwing extremists, including those who oppose abortion, immigrants, minorities, government and non-Christian religions have been responsible for 378 murders. These were all acts of terrorism.

That’s not to say that leftwing extremists haven’t committed acts of violence. But despite what Vice-President Vance says, they are comparatively rare.

Nevertheless, you can expect the Trump regime to use the murder of Charlie Kirk and the revelation of Operation Arctic Frost to justify further attacks on their political opponents. The regime has already shown contempt for the Constitution by governing in direct violation of the 1st, 4th, 6th, 8th and 14th Amendments. And Trump seems determined to seek a third term in violation of the 20th Amendment.

It would not be surprising to see the regime try to arrest and silence opponents. And, given that there were no real consequences for January 6 due to court delays, the SCOTUS immunity ruling and presidential pardons, you can be certain that Trump will further attempt to rig the 2026 election in order to retain his grip on power.