Among what she said that I agree with is that a bachelor’s degree is not the right choice for everyone. Some students will end up in trades that don’t require a 4-year (or more) degree and that’s absolutely fine. I have a nephew who is a plumber who out-earns me with my master’s degree and 30 years of education experience. I have always supported vocational education and internships as valid ways to gain job skills and freely acknowledge that my path is not best for everyone. My 16-year-old grandson is currently making noises about not going to college. He’s a strong academic student, and I fully expect him to eventually decide college is a good path for him, but it’s my job to help him explore options-not to lock him into something. And therein lies my true issue with Secretary McMahon’s idea, particularly when examining it next to the Republican efforts to dismantle public education. What we are not going to do is lock an 8-year-old into a rigid career path without options.

What I see happening if we don’t get these evil people out of office is a system where wealthy white families send their children to private schools that are supplemented with public funds and their children get the premiere education experience, go to colleges & universities and become the next generation of doctors, lawyers, and politicians. They want to create a ruling class of elites and lock poor, brown and black families out of that option. That’s okay though (with them) because of course society needs worker bees who have just enough training to fulfill their role in society and keep the economy working for the elite class, but don’t have enough education to question their lot in life. They can be plumbers and welders and manufacturers and mechanics. They can mow the yards and clean the houses and serve the meals. The best among them can become public school teachers and the really lucky ones have enough athletic talent to make big bucks in professional sports while earning even bigger bucks for the franchise owners. The oligarchs need them to be able to read well enough to follow written instructions and do math well enough to complete whatever tasks they are assigned, but they certainly don’t want them taught to think critically about anything. The very idea makes me so angry! No! I do not accept this for my grandchildren or for my precious students.

Education is about so much more than just being ready for a job (although that is an important part of it). It’s also about that critical thinking component, and about learning to understand and appreciate the world around us. It’s about exploring new ideas and discovering things we like that we never knew existed. It’s about discovering how much we don’t know, reflecting on history and dreaming about the future. It’s about making connections with people from many walks of life, and sharing cultures and ideas. Education, at its best, creates a tapestry of opportunity for our children. I will not sit quietly while the Republicans in charge steal that.

Subscribe now

My earliest memories about our government center around Nixon, Watergate and the end of US involvement in Vietnam. I was six years old when Nixon won the 1968 election and twelve when he resigned. I remember being at my grandparents’ house when I heard we were pulling out of Vietnam and thinking what a great thing the POTUS had done. I remember how quickly he went from commanding respect to being “Tricky Nicky” and how my parents were glued to the Watergate reports. One of the most important lessons I took away from that time is that no one, even the president, is above the law. I also learned that Congress has the ability and the obligation to rein in an executive that is corrupt. It wasn’t about politics, it was about ethics and the Republicans of Nixon’s time put the well being of the United States above party loyalty. These days that seems so far away.

The median age in the US Senate is 64.7 years. I am 64. That means many of the Senators currently serving likely have the same memories I have of that time. In the House of Representatives, 134 members are 65 or older, which is about 30%. Knowing this, shouldn’t we expect them to behave the way those honorable Congressional members acted in 1974? And yet, here we are.

I remember thinking that Gerald Ford was a nice but boring man and not overly smart, and how odd it was to have a president who had never been elected to that office or as VP. I adored Jimmy Carter and worked with the Young Democrats to campaign for him. My children were born during the Reagan years and I didn’t realize until much later how much damage he actually did to our country (so many of our modern issues began with him). George Bush the first I kind of lump in with Reagan, I didn’t agree with either of them on policy but wasn’t paying as much attention as a young mother as I began to later. Clinton was a mixed bag, great for the economy and personally unethical. George Bush the second (Dubya) I put in the same category as Ford-boring, not overly bright, made some significant mistakes and bad policies, but not a horrible person. Barrack Obama was a breath of fresh air, although I wish he had been able to accomplish true universal health care. He made his share of mistakes, but I greatly respect him. My only real domestic complaint about Joe Biden is that I wish his administration had worked harder to hold the leaders (read 45/47 and his cronies) of the January 6 insurrection accountable. Plus all of these kept us tied to Israel and provided way too much aid that hurt the Palestinian people and I do wish that could be undone. Like electing the orange guy twice though, and all the atrocities of both his terms (but on steroids during his second) can’t be undone.

The real focus, however, has to be on what comes next? Every flaw in our system has been revealed and it’s up to us to elect the right people to fix them. Here is my list in no particular order, and I’m sure I’m going to forget a few things we have to address:

• Campaign finance reform-no more billionaires and corporations buying our elections.

• True universal health care-whatever that ends up looking like. No human in the US should die of treatable or preventable diseases.

• Justice system reform-we MUST address systemic racism and every other bias that allows wealthy white men special treatment and unjust consequences for young black and brown men.

• Law enforcement reform.

• Put educators back in charge of education! Fully fund our public schools!

• Strengthen the checks and balances on all branches of government.

• SCOTUS reform-term limits are a must.

• Accountability for all in the current administration AND CONGRESS (and adjacent to them) for laws broken-including insider trading.

• Abolish ICE and reform the immigration system with a fair path to citizenship.

• Strengthen voter rights and end gerrymandering once and for all.

• Classify racist speech as hate speech and enforce it with charges filed.

• Common-sense gun laws.

• End military aid to Israel.

• Strengthen our international ties to allies and our support for the International Courts and laws.

  Subscribe now

When I focus all my attention on ICE and the damage being done to our immigrant communities, I need to focus on it because it’s vitally important. However, it’s a tree and only one aspect of what’s really happening. I can’t forget that in the forest, the majority of Americans are not happy with how our immigrants are being treated and there is a movement to bring about reform, change and a pathway to citizenship as we move beyond the insanity. It’s heartbreaking the damage that is being done to individual lives and I never want to fail to acknowledge that, but I also don’t want to be so distressed and depressed about it that it bogs me down and prevents me from being an advocate for change.

When I focus all my attention on the corruption in the current regime; in the DOJ and the FBI and every other acronymed agency in our government, I’m not seeing the disgust most Americans are feeling and the demands being made for both justice and updated laws. The corruption, including what is happening with the Epstein evidence, the abhorrent grifting, ignoring of court orders and even poor decisions made by the SCOTUS are trees, but in the forest I see constitutional amendments and new laws that will be passed to prevent this from happening under another aspiring authoritarian in the future.

Trashing our water, food supply, health and safety? These are very serious trees, but they still don’t fully define the forest. The damage to our economy? I seriously dislike that tree right now but with some hard work we can restore it so it grows strong again. How about the tree that represents our standing in the world? Or the tree that represents how our military members and veterans are being neglected? The tree that is women’s shrinking rights or the trees of bigotry such as racism and anti-LGBTQ, anti-Islamic, anti every marginalized group? Those need to be dug up by the roots and new trees need to be planted through good, strong laws that protect the rights of all. Only then will our forest truly flourish.

Right now our forest is diseased and struggling to survive. Fixing it is not going to be easy, but it’s not too late and I have confidence in the majority of American people to do that work. Step one is getting the vote out for the November midterms. Then we move forward, treating each tree as it needs to be treated so all together we can walk and relax in a forest that actually serves the needs of the people and provides us with safety, health, education, shelter and all the other inalienable rights we deserve. We hold these truths to be self-evident!

Subscribe now

I’m compelled to keep up with the news and am greatly disturbed by the continuing ICE atrocities, the maltreatment of our service members (thinking of sailors particularly right now but really, all of them), the grifting and all the rest. I have to know about them! Closing my eyes won’t do anything but let them get away with more and more. I try to focus on the good news but the bad is just overwhelming. I guess where I’m going with this is that there needs to be a way to protect our mental health while also being a well-informed activist! I believe it’s one of the most challenging situations I’ve ever faced.

A few things I try include:

• Trying to devote equal time to good news

• Finding things to laugh about (even if they are somewhat mean spirited and directed toward the maga crowd)

• Doing things I love with people I love

• Reading for pleasure

• Relaxing with my dogs

• Venting when I need to (I frequently do this by writing to Dumb (Cornyn), Dumber (Cruz) and The Jellyfish (Rep Craig Goldman)

• Writing; I haven’t been doing nearly enough of this in recent months

What do you do to maintain your mental health?

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

In Texas, not too far from my home, a young man was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 30 years for defending himself against a gang at a high school track meet. He stabbed one of his attackers, who died. That IS a tragedy, but it was not murder. There are so many issues with Karmelo Anthony’s original trial that a new defense team is seeking a new trial and to have the original judge disqualified. I am hopeful that will happen and that Karmelo will get a fair trial with all the evidence allowed. The racism of this case, starting with the gang of white students ganging up on a lone black student for daring to duck under their tent to get out of the rain is disheartening. I keep thinking and hoping and working for change, but what will it take to produce that change?

In South Carolina, a jury found a store owner not guilty for shooting and killing a young black teen (age 14) after chasing him from his store. The young man, Cyrus Carmack-Belton had entered the store, placed his backpack on the floor at the owner’s request, picked up four bottles of water and then returned them to their location, and walked back to his backpack to leave. For whatever reason, the owner felt Cyrus had stolen something and chased him from the store, shooting him in the back. Evidence that wasn’t allowed to be presented in the trial included two previous non-fatal shootings this store owner had been involved in. Those incidents show a pattern of the owner’s willingness to use lethal force against a suspected shoplifter. Not allowing the evidence to be presented in court kept the jury from seeing the full picture, and many people believe racism was involved in the decisions made by the court.

Another heartbreaking incident occurred in Miami Florida on Juneteenth when Tonea Nicole Miller from Michigan was there to celebrate the important holiday. She was found hanging from a tree near a park, and officials ruled it a suicide. This is one of a string of lynchings ruled suicides over many years, and it seems we are seeing an increase as white nationalists grow bolder and more violent due to policy decisions made by the regime currently in charge of this nation. Do black people commit suicide? Of course they do, but they do NOT choose hanging from a tree as their method! Culturally that method is so painful for our black community that no black person would choose to inflict that additional pain on family and friends. We’ve seen cases that were ruled suicide in spite of the victim having multiple broken bones-how would that person get into a tree and hang himself with multiple broken bones? We have to stand up and yell loudly for justice for Tonea and so many others who have been failed by our government, our laws, our police officers and coroners, and our courts.

Also in June, one-year-old Kohen Wiley was shot and killed by police who suspected his mother had shoplifted a box of diapers. She had not, she had a receipt, but even if she had stolen them that theft is not a capital offence and the police officer is not the judge, jury and executioner! As we often see, the initial story of the vehicle being used as a weapon fell apart as the evidence was reviewed. The shots that killed baby Kohen and injured his mother came from the side of the car. I saw a video of that tiny casket being carried and wept. Kohen should be playing and giving his family hugs and kisses! Kohen should have a chance to grow up and reach his full potential. Thanks to a racist POS with a badge and a gun, it won’t happen.

Meanwhile the family of Nolan Wells is still trying to get answers about how this 18-year-old died after his all-white group of friends left him on an island without his cell phone (which was in their possession) and he was found dead two days later. The group of “friends”, one of whom is the son of a judge, hired lawyers immediately and their story doesn’t seem to match the evidence and eyewitness accounts of others who saw the group that day. Autopsy results, including an independent second autopsy, are inconclusive and this heartbroken family is without answers right now. The outcry from our black community is to not allow their black children to ever be the only one in a group of white friends. As a white woman who is in an interracial relationship, I struggle with, but accept the necessity of this stance. I am sometimes the only white body in a group of black friends and family and always feel safe! I never want my significant other to feel unsafe in an all-white group; I believe when it’s just my family he feels safe but that he struggles if we are elsewhere and surrounded by white people. I vow to not stay in a situation like that-be it at a restaurant, in a store, etc. If he’s not comfortable, I’m not going to be complacent about it.

Switching to another marginalized group that has been on the receiving end of way too much racism, ICE Gestapo “agents” murdered two hispanic men very recently in additional stories that simply don’t add up. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot in Houston, TX on July 11, 2026. Accusations were made that he tried to weaponize his vehicle (that’s always the story) but that fell apart. Then they tried to paint him as a criminal due to residue powder found in his vehicle and that ended up being an electrolyte drink mix that Mr. Salgado Araujo used to stay hydrated while working construction in the Houston heat. He was stripped of all identification before being transported to a hospital, seemingly in an attempt to trap family members who might be undocumented when they attempted to claim his body. Salgado Araujo was undocumented but had lived and worked in the USA for many years and was law-abiding. In Maine, Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero, a LEGAL resident, was shot and killed in front of his little daughter during a traffic stop just a few days after the Houston murder. In both of these murders, the men shot and killed were NOT the targets of the investigations.

I know I’ve missed some stories, but these are enough to create both depression and anger about the levels of racism our non-white citizens and residents endure in this nation. We have to combat this! Step one is calling it out but that’s not enough. We have to vote as if we aren’t white! We have to elect people of every complexion who will fight to reform our laws, our law enforcement methods and our courts. We have to demand accountability for a regime that is way out of control. One day I know I’m going to have to pass the baton and that the work won’t be done, but I know the values I’ve taught my adult children and that my grandchildren are learning. Every person matters! Human life is important! We must create a nation where all really are recognized as equal in every way. Racism is learned behavior and can also be unlearned. Let’s fight it.

That corrupt slush fund settlement! It makes me feel sick to see such open corruption-they simply don’t care that everyone knows what they are doing! They made a deal with themselves to give themselves taxpayer money that they can distribute to whoever they want to and the public isn’t allowed to know who is getting it. 47 and his family are not exempt from receiving it, insurrectionists aren’t exempt from receiving it, sex offenders aren’t exempt from receiving it! It’s even more infuriating that this “settlement” includes an exemption for 47 and his family from EVER being investigated or indicted for tax crimes. I don’t see how that is legal and am very hopeful the courts will strike that down; I refuse to accept a nation where the rich and powerful continue to be exempt from accountability. From anyone who participated in Epstein’s crimes to financial crimes, it’s time for us to live up to our belief that no one is above the law. We may have to get some court reform accomplished to realize that goal, which makes voting at every level more important than ever.

Speaking of accountability, I heard in a podcast yesterday while 47 was in China he proposed that China & Russia join the USA to dismantle the International Criminal Court in order to protect his “friend” Natanyahu (and likely himself and his cabinet members). While not surprising, it is appalling! The USA was instrumental in creating that court, and now he wants to destroy it! NO! Accountability is coming for these powerful men who have all committed crimes against humanity. I really want 47 to live long enough to see it! Although now that I’ve typed that statement I’m conflicted. I also would be okay to see his obituary today if it happened from natural causes. I don’t want to see him turned into a martyr and do not condone violence for any reason.

The SCOTUS and their decision to gut Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act has enraged and sickened and saddened me. We obviously need court reform and MUST elect the right people to Congress to make that happen. I wish Biden had done it. I respect him for so much that he’s done in his lifetime of service, but wish he had been more aggressive in protecting us from 47 and his evil regime. I wish Merrick Garland had been more aggressive in pursuing a legal means of preventing this as well, but then I sometimes think this had to happen this way to fully wake America up! We are 250 years into this experiment and it’s time to reassess our theories and get busy fixing the places we have gone astray. It’s time for all of us to be equal, and all means all. One of the things that I love about my current school district is that from the superintendent down we have the philosophy that every student is the responsibility of every adult every day. There is no “your kids, my kids” That’s the way we need to be as Americans; there is no you vs. me, everything is us. I’m a straight white woman but I will stand with everyone of color or of the LGBTQ+ community or of the immigrant community or any other stupid factor that has been used to divide us. We will tear down every wall and love one another. We will not go back to fewer voting rights for anyone, regardless of how hard the Republicans fight to restrict our rights. We will regain choice for women and will gain the other progressive rights (healthcare, education, etc.). That is the hope that I cling to. I believe in us as a people because in spite of our flaws we are a people who overwhelmingly believe in freedom and equality and we will prevail.

Subscribe now

Meanwhile, he and his administration have abandoned Ukraine as they continue their battle against Russian aggression (although Ukraine is winning and I believe will ultimately be victorious) and he has also continued the failures of previous administrations in supporting Israel’s genocide against the Palistanians. I will not support any political candidate with my words or my money if they don’t pledge to support Ukraine and end military aid to Israel. Seriously, why does Israel need our money anyway? Their citizens have benefits our citizens lack (such as universal healthcare).

As a school counselor I work on conflict resolution skills with young children every day. I often hear from children, “my dad (or mom) told me if anyone hits me I have to hit back”. My response to this is always something to the effect of “I will never tell you to not listen to what your parents say, and I will never tell you that you can’t defend yourself, but what if there is a better way?” We then explore together the options they have-reporting it (not tattling) to an adult who can help, firmly telling the aggressor that behavior is not okay, etc. I also explain that adults often don’t see the first hit because they can’t focus on everyone at the same time, but that attention is drawn toward a conflict and the second hitter always gets caught. The students recognize the truth of this statement because they have experienced it themselves. What does this have to do with war? Maybe nothing other than the fact that even young children can learn conflict resolution skills and learn to diplomatically settle disputes. Why then do we keep getting pulled into wars? The answer is that too many world leaders need to learn those skills and we need enough strong leaders everywhere to deter the greedy aggression of people like Putin, Netanyahu and 47.

Meanwhile at home we are also facing a war against the truth, our democracy, marginalized groups and the soul of this nation. Physical missiles aren’t being dropped, but so many other weapons are being utilized and these are acts of aggression that we MUST fight back against. We have a framework that we have to operate within and we have to remain non-violent, but we have to use every possible tool because this is too important for us to lose. I am proud of the Democratic leaders who are actually fighting and using tools like matching the redistricting push 47 and Abbott started in Texas. The old rules have been destroyed and we have to adapt because some wars (like Ukraine defending themselves against Russia) do have to be fought and won, at least until we get enough adults in charge to check the aggression of leaders who don’t have any self-control.

Subscribe now

The 25th amendment is not going to be used to remove him from office. Historically, it’s a safeguard when a POTUS is temporarily unable to perform the duties of the office, such as during a surgery or another event during which communication and decision-making can’t happen. It also ensures the line of succession if a president dies in office. Utilizing it for involuntary removal requires a majority of the president’s own cabinet or Congress, the people who want to remain in power and therefore want to support their person. It also requires ⅔ majority in Congress (both houses) if the POTUS disputes the removal. Even with the blue wave we anticipate in the midterms, I doubt the Democrats will have that kind of majority in the Senate to carry that ⅔ margin overall.

Impeachment is a slightly easier path but still a difficult one with Republicans in the senate who will not support it. As we have seen in the two impeachments from his first term, impeachment without conviction and removal by the Senate is pretty empty. Once again we see that ⅔ majority, this time only of the Senate, in order to convict and remove. I feel that the Democrats will achieve a majority in the Senate during midterms, but am not sure it will be a supermajority of ⅔. Without that, impeachment is not going to accomplish anything more than it did during his first term.

Having said that, however, I do believe it’s more likely that impeachment of various members of his cabinet could succeed, which will remove a lot of his sycophantic pillars of support. Hegseth, Bondi (although she’s out), Noem (same), Blanche, Patal, Gabbard, Miller, and others need to at least be impeached even if the numbers aren’t there for conviction and removal. Doing so will create a record that will help with convictions later once the Department of Justice is restored to independence. The impeachment process will also keep them all focused on that, which will allow them less time to be cruel and evil.

Ending Citizens United is going to require legislation, and getting that passed and signed into law is going to require us to let our representatives know that we demand it to happen. This isn’t a partisan issue; unfortunately too many Democrats accept dark money and owe loyalty to the billionaires, it’s not a strictly Republican issue. I’m making it clear to all candidates I support that I expect them to reject that and run a grassroots campaign. We are seeing more and more that voters will get behind candidates who make that commitment. When we get enough of them in office, we end Citizens United! Research and vote carefully.

Finally, repealing the Electoral College will require a constitutional amendment. Amending the constitution is also (by design) not an easy thing; there have only been 27 amendments over 250 years. Ten of those are the Bill of Rights that were promised and passed quickly (promised in order to get the new constitution ratified. Two of them cancel each other out (prohibition) so if my math is correct that’s only 15 actual permanent changes. However, since the electoral college is part of the constitution, the only way to change it is with an amendment. I believe eliminating it is popular enough that it would pass with no problem; voters want their votes to count fairly in all elections and so many of us who live in states that have long been dominated by Republicans (although I hope that is changing) know that our presidential vote gets drowned out by that domination. The national popular vote should decide our president.

Petitions certainly have their place and they can garner attention to a matter, but some things only happen through the correct (constitutional and/or legislative) methods. That only happens when we elect Congressional representatives who will work for the people, not for big money and billionaires. That means that no matter what kind of voter suppression gets thrown our way, we have to turn out and vote in “bigly” numbers that can’t be denied. Every election is important! When in doubt, remember Hungary! We can do it too.

Subscribe now

1. Congressional reform. We need to end Citizens United and end the days of big money owning our elected officials. Fundraising needs to be grass roots and they need to know they answer to the people. We further need for Congress to reclaim all the powers granted to them by the US Constitution. That erosion, which began long before the current administration, must be repaired. Congress must work for us and must provide the checks and balances needed to constrain an authoritarian executive. Further, Congress must pass laws that protect voter’s rights, protect a woman’s right to choose, protect LGBTQ+ rights, curtail the executive branch’s ability to interfere with any of our rights and tax the ultra wealthy. Immigration reform with a clear path to citizenship is also a must. While we are at it, let’s pass legislation that racist speech is hate speech and not a freedom of speech exemption. I’m so sick of racism being allowed to exist openly in this nation. I also demand that military aid for Israel end and that we stop supporting genocide.

2. Justice system reform. From the SCOTUS down we need major changes. For federal judges, including on the SCOTUS, we need term limits and we need ethics rules. We need major reforms in law enforcement around the nation and at every level. More social workers are needed to provide support as an alternative to punitive measures (particularly for youthful and first-time offenders). We need to rethink current incarceration methods to focus more on rehabilitation rather than the current dangerous and slavery-like system. All law enforcement officers need improved training on protecting and serving rather than instantly jumping to violence and force. They need training in their own biases and how to both recognize and overcome them; they need training in deescalation that is sensitive to cultural differences and disabilities. Social workers should be assigned to partner with police officers and work alongside each other for the safety of our society. Someone recently pointed out to me that modern law enforcement grew out of the slave catchers and still carries many of those “traditions”. Reform must happen. What does law enforcement look like in places like Denmark and Sweden? We can learn from others.

3. Reinventing Society. Hand-in-hand with justice reform is creating a society in which people receive fair wages for the work they do, have access to safe and affordable housing, receive quality public education no matter where they live and have healthcare as a human right. Those things alon

   Subscribe now

   e would balance our society and reduce crime by large margins. Can you envision a world in which none of our people are hungry or homeless or suffering from lack of medical care? Our veterans and our elderly are valued and cared for? Our teachers aren’t having to work a second job or sell their blood plasma to make ends meet? I can see it! Like MLK Jr, I may not reach it with you but I know it’s possible and I have a dream.

These things are the beginning; they are the “if you want my support I need you to be serious about them” things. I’m watching so many good things come from Texas Democrats, but not so many from the DNC. The Democratic leadership needs to get it together because this isn’t about only winning midterms or even winning the White House in 2028, this is about the soul of the USA and the future we want to build for my grandchildren and for yours. This is to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” The time is now.

Pete Hegseth, as one example of a clown, started early in his tenure leaking military plans on an unsecure Signal chat with unauthorized people not once but twice! The unauthorized recipients included a reporter and members of his family! He has fired experienced and knowledgeable generals and other officers, blocked promotions for women and black officers, and committed war crimes both in the Caribbean and Iran. His lecture to experienced military officers about fitness, etc. was laughable! Here he is a FOX Not-News propaganda pusher and he dares to lecture officers with actual military and leadership experience. Then he got us (along with the POTUS and Netanyahu) into a war and used old intelligence data and maps that resulted in a girls school being bombed by OUR amazing military. He is turning our military into terrorists-which is evil and cruel but also incompetent! The clown is here.

The Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation I’ll lump together as so much of their incompetence is tied to the Epstein evidence and how it’s been handled. Redacting things that shouldn’t be redacted, failing to redact things that were required by law to be redacted, releasing things that they didn’t intend to release and then trying to take them down-only to be forced to put them back on the website after public outcry has been one component of their incompetence. The utter and complete failure of sounding remotely coherent and competent in congressional hearings is another. All of these things and more loudly proclaim they are clowns, and are present (or recently sent packing in the case of Pam Bondi) in our government. Kash Patel and Todd Blanche are clowns. Blanche thinks he can get away with saying no more Epstein evidence will be released. Patel thinks he can get away with using a tax funded jet for trips to see his girlfriend and to celebrate an Olympic win with the US Soccer team. Yes those also represent corruption, but the fact that the coverups and corruption are so widely known indicates their incompetence. If you’re going to commit crimes, at least don’t be a stupid criminal!

The Department of Human Services, specifically ICE and CBP, have caused an incredible amount of pain and suffering since this regime took control 15 months ago. That makes it hard for me to laugh at anything about them because their cruelty is their primary characteristic. I keep wondering how those so-called agents treat people the way they do on the streets and in custody and then go home and look their own family members in the eyes? How does anyone tackle peaceful and hard working people who are just trying to earn a living and drag them into custody by their hair or a leg? How does one kidnap children and use them as bait to capture their parents and then lock the entire family up for months? How does one rape and possibly impregnate girls and women who are captive and helpless? What has happened to their humanity? It’s like Lord of the Flies! However, we can still identify the clowns; look at Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski and finally at Markwayne Mullin. Incompetence, lack of intelligence (at least Noem and Mullin) and clownlike behavior. Again, the corruption is so rampant and obvious that Noem and Lewandowski aren’t even competent criminals. As someone who spent 33 years living in Oklahoma, I can attest to Mullin’s lack of intelligence. Don’t bother, they’re here.

I’m a public school educator and have been for 30 years. My bachelors degree is in business education and my masters is in school counseling. I am (or was in Oklahoma-didn’t transfer all my certifications to Texas) certified to teach basic economics and have taught it. I do not, however, claim to have an in-depth knowledge of how to run an economy. Saying that, however, I do understand that our economy is global and we are dependent on each other worldwide. I understand that tariffs are paid to import goods and the cost of that is passed on to consumers. I understand that starting wars impacts the prices of many things, particularly gas, oil, fertilizer and anything that must pass through an area that can be controlled by another nation we are at war with. I’m not sure the POTUS or anyone in his cabinet who deals with finances understands these things. A POTUS who played a successful businessman on TV but who has a long history of bankrupting businesses handles our economy like it’s a circus. Like everyone else he’s put into positions of authority, people like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett are clowns who are destroying the global economy, not only ours in the USA. These clowns are not funny, but they are here.

JD Vance; does anyone actually like this human? He denigrates his own wife and children for being brown and criticizes her religion. He’s so insincere and changes his position along with his name depending on how the wind blows. Notably, I don’t think he’s accomplished a thing he’s set out to do in this administration. Most recently he has been joined by 47’s son-in-law Jared Kuschner, who is openly working to enrich himself with Middle-East deals while also helping negotiate peace terms with Iran. The third member of the team I refer to as the Three Stooges is Steve Witkoff, another corrupt member of the Epstein Class. He is particularly linked to Russian entanglements in the Epstein documents and I honestly don’t trust any of the three to do anything that doesn’t help themselves more than it helps the USA, the Iranian people or peace. They are dangerous clowns, like ”It”!

Finally the biggest clown of all, POTUS 47 himself is the center ring of the circus that is his regime. I’ve said it before and will repeat it again that this person doesn’t have a single redeeming quality. He likes to call people low IQ, but as we know every accusation is a confession with this guy. He is cruel, he is vindictive but one thing that has played to our advantage is that he is also incompetent. He thinks he knows everything and doesn’t listen well to anyone who says things he doesn’t want to hear. The result of him surrounding himself with sycophants this term is that he’s exposed himself even more than his first time in office as totally inept. His attempts to punish political opponents keep falling flat in the courts, his illegal executive orders keep getting overturned, his cover-ups keep failing to cover things up and he is failing on every side. If we had a Congress with any backbone he would already have been removed from office. Backtracking, if we had had a congress with any backbone in 2020 he would never have been allowed to run for office again and if the DOJ under Merrick Garland would have been more assertive he would be in prison. But here he is, this big clown, ruining our lives, our economy, our world standing, our military, our relationships and everything else he touches. I firmly believe the Epstein survivors and the other women who have accused him of SA and know he is guilty of so many crimes from SA (even of children) to financial crimes to treason. I don’t know if he will ever be held accountable-if he will live long enough for that as we watch his health failing every day, but I hope at least he remains cognitively aware enough to know accountability is coming for him and his legacy and his corrupt children. Even clowns eventually have to be held accountable for their actions.

Subscribe now

I don’t really know how to explain to anyone who isn’t an adult paying attention right now exactly how insane the war in Iran is, from every perspective. First let me say that the regime in Iran is horrible and has been for many years. However, POTUS #47 started this war without justification and there are likely several reasons for that. He initially claimed Iran was very close to producing a nuclear weapon and that they had to be stopped. This has been proven untrue, we know the Ayatollah was religiously opposed to nuclear weapons and although uranium was being enriched it was not for a nuclear weapon. Next he claimed it was to liberate the Iranian people from their evil regime and nothing less than regime change would be acceptable. Of course, by killing the old Ayatollah and other officials; by killing a school full of little girls and other civilians he has created a situation where the regime is not changing and instead grows stronger politically. He also claimed that Israel was going to attack Iran and he had a gut feeling Iran would strike back at US interests in the middle east, so it was necessary to strike them first to minimize casualties. He did not listen to advisors who cautioned against the war, and he did not listen to those who told him Iran would seize control of the strait of Hormuz and create a global economic “situation”.

Once he realized this was not going to be an easy win, POTUS 47 started demanding NATO allies join the war to help open the strait. These are the same allies he has been threatening and criticizing since his first term and been horrible to since taking office this time. The NATO alliance requires allies to defend each other if one is attacked; it does not require allies to enter a war where another member is the aggressor. In this war, the United States and Israel are the aggressors and totally in the wrong. Our allies have refused to help, and are fully justified in doing so. Some of them are even negotiating with Iran to get their own ships and interests through the straits while anyone with goods for the USA and Israel remain blocked. The crazy guy waffles back and forth between “we have our own oil and don’t need what’s coming through the strait so if our allies want it they can get it themselves” and profane laced demands that Iran open the strait now or he’s going to bomb them back to the stone age and wipe their entire civilization out in one night. You seriously can’t make this stuff up. His deadline for this bombing campaign is 8 p.m. Eastern time tonight (April 7, 2026). Iran is refusing to talk to him and Iranian civilians are surrounding the bridges and power plants he is threatening to bomb tonight. You need to clearly understand that what he is threatening to do consists of war crimes. He’s not saying he’s going to bomb military targets, he’s threatening civilian infrastructure and civilian people with annihilation. Meanwhile Republicans in Congress are “hoping” he’s not serious and doing nothing.

As for his reasons? One of those is a distraction (he thinks) from the Epstein evidence that implicates him and multiple other very wealthy white men in child sex crimes, money laundering crimes, and even espionage crimes. He also caters to Netanyahu of Israel and Putin of Russia, and is making both of them very happy with this war. Netanyahu is happy because he wants to destroy Iran; Putin is happy because 47 has ended sanctions against Russia and opened up oil markets allowing them to make billions of dollars. At the same time, Russia is providing intelligence to Iran to help them locate American military members and American interests in the middle east, but 47 doesn’t care! It’s treason!

We will see what actually happens tonight but this entire insane chapter feels like we are living in a bad disaster movie. We are being held hostage by a mad wannabe king because congressional Republicans refuse to grow a spine and do the right thing. When this is over (and it will be over) I promise all of you to work to strengthen the government and institutions of this nation to stamp out fascism, racism, and a lot of other isms. I want you to inherit a USA that will live up to the promises.

Subscribe now

For one thing, this is a massive nation with two of our states and some territories that aren’t even physically connected to the rest of us. There is so much variation from state to state regarding wages, living standards, laws and so many other factors. We have a large number of families who are one missed paycheck away from homelessness and/or not being able to feed their families. Unions are suppressed in some places, leaving strikers with no protection. So while I am all in on using boycotts and every other economic tool in our arsenal, I just don’t see a nation-wide general strike as a possibility.

Personally, I’m a public school educator (school counselor) in Texas. According to Texas Government Code Section 617.003, it is illegal for teachers and other public employees to strike in Texas. I have a mortgage, other bills, and a need to support myself until retirement and beyond. Striking would mean losing my job, my certification, my ability to be reemployed in public education AND my retirement benefits. I’m in my 60s, widowed and not independently wealthy. I simply can’t participate in a General Strike. However, I have been boycotting any corporation that don’t support my values for well over a year. I’ve participated in multiple protests and rallies during that time as well (I never wanted to be a political activist but here I am). I speak out through my social media and in real life and I am actively working with several political groups from the local through the national level. I have also already put in for May 1 off work because I recognize that as an important day and I have personal days to cover it. I 100% agree that using our economic power is a vital part of this movement. Further, by all means, those who are able to engage in a strike please get it organized and do so, but don’t shame those who can’t. We have a country to save, but we can’t lose sight of the individuals and families who make up that country.

Subscribe now

45/47 was born June 14, 1946 to parents who should have invested in birth control. His date of death will be filled in when it happens. The nature vs. nurture debate can rage about whether he was born a narcissistic sociopath or if it was due to how he was raised, but the end result was a human without a single redeeming quality. He cheated on every wife, in every business dealing and in every election of his life. He failed at every endeavor, but somehow was able to con a large number of people into believing his never-ending lies. A reality TV show made many believe the role he played was him but he was never a good businessman or dealmaker. He was a fraudster who even went so far as to defraud children with cancer through a family charity foundation.

He admitted to abusing women, bragging about grabbing women by their genitals and being allowed to do so because he was rich; further he bragged about going into the dressing room while girls were undressed when he owned a beauty pageant. He made horrible statements about his own daughters, particularly Ivanka but I remember one about Tiffany when she was only a baby. He was close friends with the known pedophile Jeffry Epstein for many years and in spite of his DOJ and FBI attempting to cover up his crimes the truth will come out. In addition to sex crimes there is evidence of financial and political crimes-all will be revealed.

45/47 had a strange relationship with both Vladimir Putin of Russia and Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. He greatly admired them and other authoritarians, and allowed both of them to endanger the lives of American service members more than once. As Natanyahu dog-walked him into war with Iran, Putin provided Iran with intelligence that helped them locate Americans and American interests in the Middle East. This was no big deal, according to the potus. These acts of treason will be a huge part of his legacy along with his crimes and corruption and his attempted destruction of our historical alliances. His attempts to dismantle democracy, both when he lost the 2020 election and caused an insurrection to try to overturn those results and his continuing efforts in his second term to expand executive power and control elections will not be forgotten by history.

His mishandling of the economy during his first term was largely covered up by the global pandemic (which he also mishandled). During his second term, his cluelessness about how the economy is supposed to work became even more apparent since there were no adults in his second cabinet to counter-act his worst instincts. His tariffs and trade wars created chaos, his determination to double-down undid all the post-COVID gains President Biden had made during his term. Then came the illegal war with Iran that destroyed what was left of our economy and impacted the rest of the world too.

It’s also important to remember his abject cruelty toward immigrants, particularly targeting brown and black immigrants and citizens. His secret police, made up of ICE and Border Patrol, rounded up anyone they thought might be an immigrant, regardless of their actual status, and warehoused them in concentration camps. The courts struggled to keep up with the cases, and so many DOJ attorneys were fired or quit due to the unethical things happening that getting through the backlog was extremely time consuming. Meanwhile, in the camps there was inadequate health care, contaminated food and water and totally inhumane conditions. Families, including infants and children, slept on floors as there weren’t beds. There were record numbers of deaths in custody, there were way too many young girls impregnated by guards who raped them (one would have been too many) and cruelty was the entire point. Protestors met violence, some were even executed in the streets and then maligned as domestic terrorists.

45/47’s attempts to silence critics and control the media was a blatant violation of the First Amendment. However, since every day brought a constitutional violation of some kind that was not unexpected. The more he tried to tighten his grip, the more things slipped through his fingers though. The American people, including many courageous independent journalists, would not go quietly into autocracy! These journalists made sure the rest of us remained informed and wouldn’t let stories like the Epstein evidence and the corruption die.

Upon his departure from this life there will be 25% or so of the US population, known as the maga cult, who will mourn for him. There will be others who haven’t been paying attention who might feel the need to express sorrow just because he is a wealthy man in a position of incredible power. The rest of us will take a huge breath of relief and then commence celebrating in our own ways. When will it happen? That is unclear but it can’t be too soon.

Subscribe now

This one is slightly too long to upload as a note.

It’s been awhile since I addressed a Substack to you but you are always on my heart and mind as I face the mess in our nation and the world.  In particular every time I think about the families with children who are stuck in concentration camps right now and every time I think about the Epstein survivors who are still trying to get justice, I can’t help but recognize that children just like the five of you are/were victimized.  Since you all are the very center of my heart, this grieves me so deeply.  Just thinking about any of you locked up or being raped and abused fills me with both anger and sorrow.  What is wrong with our nation that these things have been and still are allowed to flourish? 

What we know about Epstein right now is that there is still a lot we don’t know.  The executive branch of our government, specifically the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI have been actively covering the crimes up during this administration, but it goes back much further than our current POTUS.  The first reports about Jeffrey Epstein were made to the FBI in 1996, but nothing was done.  He eventually got “caught” in Florida in 2005 but “someone unknown” intervened in the original indictment and he got drastically reduced charges and an unbelievable “sweetheart” deal when it came time for sentencing.  His year of prison time was actually nights only, during the day he was allowed to leave to go about his business as usual.  His business included continuing to rape as there are reports from girls and women of him wearing an ankle monitor when he raped them.  His crimes continued, making a lot of money for himself and his friends and trafficking many young girls and women until July 2019.  The estimate is that during the many years of his crimes he victimized over 1200 girls (children as young as nine years old and many in the 12-14 age range) and young women (at least 18 but still young and vulnerable).  He not only raped them himself he shared and trafficked to many rich and powerful friends.  There is a mountain of circumstantial evidence that the POTUS, who was close friends with Epstein for many years, was involved.  Not the least of the evidence against him and others in his inner circle is the cover-up that has been happening both in his first term (we now know his DOJ interfered and stopped an investigation at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in New Mexico) and really ramping up since Congress passed the Epstein Transparency Act in 2025.  The survivors finally got people’s attention, ironically thanks to the orange guy getting the maga people riled up by campaigning on releasing the “Epstein List”, a seemingly fictional list of the people he trafficked girls to who he and maga believed were all Democrats.  Once back in office, the POTUS and his administration immediately tried to dismiss the whole case as a hoax with nothing to see, but by then there was broad support for justice for the survivors that came from both sides of the political divide.  It has become the issue that he can’t control and won’t go away no matter how much he tells everyone to move on.  Will he ever face justice?  I have no idea and am not sure he will actually live long enough for accountability, but make no mistake, answers and accountability are coming for many.  Of course by the time you read this you will know the end of the story.  I’m somewhat jealous of that.  

I’ve tried to write about the concentration camps several times and they just hurt my heart so much that I’ve struggled to put it into words.  Let me make sure you have a thorough grasp on what’s been happening.  The secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, has recently been fired.  She wasn’t fired for her cruelty, for putting ICE and border patrol agents on the streets who don’t follow the law and who have murdered multiple people (immigrants and US citizens).  She wasn’t fired due to her actual corruption-but was fired for making the POTUS look bad during a congressional hearing.  Her approach (led by Stephen Miller) to immigration has been to go after anyone and everyone with brown or black skin who doesn’t speak English fluently or who speaks with an accent.  It hasn’t mattered if these people were doing everything right-if they were in the USA legally or without documentation.  They have arrested people at their immigration hearings-revoking their legal status on the spot.  In the beginning they were sending them out of the US to torture prisons and to countried they didn’t have any connection to without court hearing or what is known as due process.  Due process is guaranteed to everyone in the US, citizen or not, by the US Constitution.  Our court system, which other than the SCOTUS has been working well during this crisis, has pretty much stopped that (at least as far as we know).  So the answer now seems to be to warehouse these people, including families and unaccompanied children, in conditions that are so horrible I can’t even fathom putting an animal in.  The concentration camps are overcrowded and unsanitary without enough beds so people are sleeping on floors without blankets or any other comfort.  Lights are kept on twenty-four hours a day, food and water are contaminated-there are reports of maggots and cockroaches in the food and the water is not clean and not sufficient.  There is very little healthcare available and there have been so many unnecessary deaths.  Recently a man died because he developed toxic shock syndrome from an infected tooth! Some of the deaths have been ruled homicides. Families with young children have been detained for up to 10 months at this point.  The DOJ doesn’t have enough lawyers to handle all the due process claims because so many have either quit or been fired for not agreeing with how the department is being run.  This is absolutely unacceptable to any Americans with a conscience or moral compass, and the Republicans in Congress aren’t even providing oversight and the Democrats are having to fight and jump through hoops to be able to enter the facilities.  

So my darlings, we are about 15 months into this horrible regime and have so many of our hopes pinned to the midterm elections (that the regime is also trying to interfere with). I’m continuing to fight for YOU and for the other children of your generation.  You do not deserve to inherit this mess.  

I remember history textbooks with a section of a chapter devoted to things like the Teapot Dome Scandal or maybe a couple of sections devoted to Watergate. Of course, the way history is taught and studied is changing so much because of technology and video evidence. But getting through those things will be so time-consuming and teachers who are able to interpret and lead students to think critically about what they are watching will be necessary rather than the many coaches I had in high school history classes who simply assigned reading and gave quizzes and tests. By the way, I’ve had some coaches who were also excellent teachers but. . .

I’m envisioning weeks to cover the corruption. Think about the bribes, the pay-to-play schemes, the pardons sold, real-estate deals in the Middle East, access to the POTUS sold at dinners, bitcoin. How many weeks will it take to cover the damage he has done to our relationships with allies and the global world order? How many weeks to adequately discuss the economic damage from his tariffs and total lack of understanding of how the economy actually functions or the damage to the value of the dollar? How much time will it take to make these future students understand the attacks on immigrants and the attempt to turn our multicultural nation into a white christian nationalist society? The Heritage Foundation and Project 2025? The ICE murders? The conditions and deaths in the concentration camps? The horror of reading that Haitian immigrants deported in spite of special protected status had been beheaded within hours of returning to Haiti? The people who just disappeared? How do we balance making them understand the horrors of violent masked thugs killing people in our streets with our desire to protect their emotional well being? I was an adult when I watched Schindler’s List, but was still distraught by so many of the scenes being seared into my mind. Prior to that I had just read about The Holocaust. Having a visual makes more of an emotional impact. I’m a proponent of protecting our children and of mental health. I’m a school counselor! But I also know we can’t sugar-coat this and our future generations have to understand that this happened and how it happened so they can guard against repeating it.

The cruelty of denying SNAP and healthcare benefits to the most vulnerable in our society, the benefits for billionaires so they can become even wealthier, racial and gender inequalities-all must be taught. Collusion with Russia and Israel to enable their attacks on Ukraine and the Palestinians in Gaza can’t be forgotten. We will need a lot of time devoted to the absolute impotence of every Republican in Congress and the failure of the corporate Democrats to fully address the problems. Of course we will need to give credit to the Democratic leaders who did step up but also remind those students that the true heroes who saved this nation are the people who own the real power. Credit must be given to those wearing inflatable costumes in Portland, everyone who organized ways to help neighbors in Minneapolis and nationwide. Los Angeles was the first city to be invaded and showed us resistance with power, strength and grace. I can’t mention all the cities now but mad respect is owed to the citizens everywhere who stood up peacefully and resisted. Oh yes, we can’t forget the gerrymandering scheme and other attempts to take away our free and fair elections. I can’t even imagine right now how much time will need to be devoted to the Nuremberg-style trials we will hold at the end of this nightmare.

I haven’t even mentioned the Epstein debacle as I feel it needs to be addressed alone. How do we explain to these future students that those in power in our country did not take any action on the biggest global sex trafficking ring of children and women known to mankind for almost twenty years and across multiple administrations? How do we explain that the FBI and DOJ did nothing from 2007 when the first reports were made to the FBI until 2026 when the survivors and a few brave members of Congress finally forced the issue? It will make their heads spin to learn that dozing don actually campaigned on releasing the files and claimed it was all Democrats involved; how the maga cult believed him and then how he turned around and dismissed it as a hoax as soon as he was in office. It is further astonishing that some of the cult accepted his declaration and remained faithful to him (although a lot have fallen away). As I’m writing this we are seeing international fallout and investigations, but in the USA the POTUS (who is implicated in crimes in the files that have be

Subscribe now

en somewhat released at this time), other members of his administration and other rich and powerful people are still being protected in the most massive cover-up in our history. In addition to the sex crimes, money laundering and espionage crimes are coming to light, and yet our FBI and DOJ are unwilling to even open an investigation. Not that we could trust them to conduct a real investigation anyway; we need a mechanism for Congress to appoint a Special Prosecutor. That is one of the major changes that needs to be made to our system as we move beyond this mess.

This has grown lengthy just off the top of my head, which reinforces my point that studying this particular timeline is going to be difficult for students who will come after us. It’s important that we keep accurate records so they will learn the truth.

Subscribe now

The land the USA is built on once belonged to a number of indigenous tribes, before Europeans “discovered” the new world. They were pushed out of their homes, murdered, infected with diseases they had previously not known, lied to and stolen from. Their numbers dwindled, their spirits broke and so many now live in poverty. Diseases such as diabetes and alcoholism plague them. Our government has broken treaty after treaty and still can’t be trusted to treat them fairly or with respect. The fact that the descendants of those peoples are currently being targeted by ICE and Border Patrol is beyond infuriating. The sheer audacity that they are targeted because their skin is brown, like our Hispanic and Latino families, is all the proof we need that racism remains a sin that must be dealt with. We might not ever be able to erase it from the hearts of ignorant people, but we can change laws and policies and hold people, wait for it, ACCOUNTABLE for violating those laws and policies.

The sweat, blood and broken hearts of slaves who were forced to this land and forced to work while being abused, raped, separated from their loved ones and treated as property rather than humans has left an oozing wound on this nation’s soul that will not and can not heal until we face that sin. What happened during Reconstruction? A few hands were slapped, not for slavery but for trying to succeed from the United States. The gains that were made in terms of voting and representation in the government for black Americans were short lived because of Jim Crow laws and grandfather clauses and the KKK. Steps were taken to keep black Americans in poverty such as the sharecropper system. The whole “separate but equal” segregation myth all too often insured black children did not receive an adequate education because their resources were never equal. And so the opportunity of Reconstruction was lost.

I was born in 1962, during the American Civil Rights movement. This was the next and best opportunity to heal the wounds of racism, and some progress was made. Segregation was legally outlawed; voting rights were reinforced. What we failed to do, however, is to codify that all laws and the policies of any agency that receives federal funds be reviewed and rewritten to be antiracist. We failed to address systemic racism and therefore we allowed the festering to continue. We continued to see our black brothers and sisters trapped in poverty, not because of their abilities but because of opportunities denied. We continued to see black students over-represented in school suspensions and black adults (especially men) in our prisons. We continued to see police killing black citizens at a much higher percentage than should statistically be happening. We failed!

On May 25, 2020 George Floyd was murdered by a white police officer who I’m not going to name because I don’t believe his name should be elevated. There was a video of that murder that disproved the predictable gaslighting that our government has been known for and that jump-started the black community to demand justice and declare that Black Lives Matter! This happened during the current POTUS’s first term and his reaction was to be expected. He added fuel to the racism fire; police response to the peaceful demonstrations was also predictable and violent. The propaganda declared the protesters were the violent ones and called them rioters. On August 23, 2020 Jacob Blake was shot seven times during an arrest attempt. Although he lived, this shooting was another excessive force incident that (with others) added to the BLM message. A 17-year-old whose name I also won’t elevate took his parent’s AR-15 across state lines from Illinois to Wisconsin and shot three men (two died and only one was armed) and was acquitted on charges for those deaths. He became the darling of the maga people and another symbol of the systemic racism that exists in the justice system in the USA. Although George Floyd’s murderer was convicted, too many others have not been held accountable, and the BLM times were unfortunately another time we failed to heal the wounds of racism.

I love Joe Biden and when he was sworn in as POTUS I had high hopes that our nation would heal. I remember saying “He wasn’t my first choice in the primary but maybe he is who we need to help us heal.” Alas, Merrick Garland’s appointment as Attorney General was a mistake as Garland tried so hard to be non-partisan that he failed to bring accountability to dozing don or anyone else at the top of the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Another mistake is one he shares with many corporate Democrats and that was (is) continuing to support Netanyahu’s genocide in Gaza by providing military funding. I know many people who either didn’t vote or voted third party rather than for Kamala Harris because of that choice so I list both of those failures as being directly responsible for where we are right now. Although I would like to, I won’t talk right now about Garland’s failure to dig into the Epstein evidence-that could be a whole article by itself.

So here we are, fighting for our life as a democratic republic. I have no doubt that we will win, I just wish I knew when that victory would come and how much damage will be done between now and then. When we win, however, we have to do something different than has happened before. We must have accountability for everyone who has violated our constitution and our laws. We also have to take the steps to strengthen our constitution and other laws and finally demand that institutional racism be addressed-make racists go underground with their hateful rhetoric and level the playing field. I’m seeing some people call for a new constitution and I don’t know if that is or is not necessary, but I do believe in the majority of Americans and know the white christian nationalist minority are currently experiencing their extinction burst. Accountability is the key to being sure it never again revives itself in the United States of America. Accountability is the key to finally achieving a nation where all are equal. Accountability is my new favorite word.

Subscribe now

Members of the fascist regime stand behind their podiums and spout LIES and members of the press sit in the room and don’t push back. If someone does dare challenge them, they start screaming insults at that person and everyone else sits there and acts like it’s business as usual. That’s even true when the regime members are in front of Congressional hearings, they seem to think they can LIE louder and longer than anyone else can talk and that makes them right.

The recent lies about both Renee Good and Alex Pretti have my head aching and my stomach rebelling. Oh it’s nothing new-we’ve seen this before. Women have lived with this for years and that’s why so many don’t report rape or sexual assault. “What was she wearing?” “Why was she in that part of town?” “Why was she drinking?” Our black and brown brothers and sisters have lived with this for generations. “If they had just complied with what the officer said. . .” It’s always been BS, it’s still BS and it’s time we call it out as LIES!

Life would be so much simpler (not to mention more entertaining) if a liar’s pants really did catch on fire. Since that’s not going to happen for us, we have to take responsibility for calling the lies out. I’m not going to accept the lies as normal or okay. I’m not going to accept that this is just the way it is now. I’m not willing for this to be the USA I grow old in or pass along to my grandchildren. I’m not going to be afraid to use the correct word for what they are doing and saying. They are LIES!

I’m not writing well today as I’m honestly just working through my emotions and rage. Oh well, it’s therapeutic.

But as I process, I find my mind going back to people I once respected and still love, but who I can now only have a very surface relationship with. It stopped being about politics a long time ago and became about ethics, morality and who we are at the very core of our beings. I’m going to focus for a minute on one person who is lost to the maga orange koolaid, and although I grieve the relationship that was, I can’t restore what has been broken. That person is my only biological sister. I love her and I will never fully cut ties with her, but the relationship is only on the surface now when it once was very deep.

Prior to the 2016 election, we had a conversation when she told me “He is great! He can’t be embarrassed!” I asked her, “and you think that’s a good thing?” She responded that it was exactly what we needed in a leader. I disagreed, and we went on with whatever the next topic of conversation was. Then he won the election. My late husband was very ill during that time so I wasn’t as involved as I am now, but I still did speak out about things I totally disagreed with. Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary was one of those; George Floyd and BLM was another, and the separation policy, caging children at the border was a third. Oh yes, we also did have an “altercation” over Kavanaugh’s nomination and confirmation. Let’s see.

She didn’t really have much to say about the education aspect of it, recognizing that my expertise there is not something she could argue with, but had plenty to say about the rest. On Kavanaugh she had all kinds of reasons to “not believe” and when I told her she was basing all her arguments on how she thought she would react in the same situation and not acknowledging that not everyone thinks like her, she told me I was just so naive and it was precious I thought that way. Then she told me I was being passive-aggressive. She brought up everything George Floyd had ever been involved in and declared that “he wasn’t the kind of person who should be the face of any movement”. I told her that nothing he had ever done excused his murder in the street by law enforcement and that it wasn’t up to her to decide who other people wanted as the face of their movement. She told me I was just way too ignorant about how the real world works. Then came the final straw.

She posted a totally ludicrous Facebook message about the children of criminals in the United States being separated from their parents while the parents served time for their crimes and that was justification for what was happening at the border. I responded with:

1. Seeking asylum is not a crime.

2. When US children are separated from their parents for their parents to serve time for a crime they have been CONVICTED for, they are left with family members they know or at the very least placed in a foster home; they are NOT kept in cages.

3. Records are kept to reunite families later.

My sister responded by blocking me on Facebook and sending me a text message that said, “you argue facts with emotion and I need a break from you.” I did not respond. A few months later she texted me about something mundane and acted like nothing had happened. I responded in the same matter, and in the intervening years that’s the way our relationship has stayed. We communicate in a text thread with our brothers about family matters, but we don’t discuss anything personal. I don’t know how to bridge the gap and am not even sure I want to. I have less trouble forgiving others in the maga cult than I do her. I know how she was raised. She tries to rewrite history with our father by repeating one conversation as proof “he was a Republican”. He died in 1978. I know where he stood on racism, but since I was only 15 when he died I’m honestly not sure how he voted, but even if he did vote Republican that was a very different party than today’s maga mess. Our mother lived into her 80s and was (like her parents before her) a yellow dog Democrat. My point is, even if she was right about Dad’s party affiliation, she was wrong that he would have ever gone along with what is happening now.

What does this have to do with what’s happening now? Nothing and everything. It’s just my processing from a very personal perspective about how we got where we are, and the truth is that people chose their side and found justification to support their stance. It’s been a cold civil war for a number of years now, getting hotter of course. It’s heartbreaking and infuriating and I wish I had answers for how we heal these divisions. This is just my personal self-therapy session and I needed to get it out of my way before I write about what I really wanted to address.

One person (I believe it was the one from Switzerland) pointed out that for many years the United States has wrongly interfered with other countries. I absolutely agree. Even some of our “best” presidents have made decisions to involve us in situations that were none of our business. Often our leaders have claimed the moral high road of defending democracy, but all too often (possibly always) it’s been about self-interest and has made things worse for the countries we destabilized. Going forward we have got to recognize that many things around the world are not our concern! That doesn’t mean we should be isolationists. We need to support our allies and strengthen ties. We can sanction countries committing human rights violations (other nations need to be sanctioning us right now). We need strong trading agreements; but we need to stop enforcing our will on other sovereign nations.

Another person (from Canada) pointed out that the USA, as it was, is gone. I agree with that too and replied that I don’t want to return to what we were prior to this madness. We have never been the country our words say we are. We (and by that I mean white America) have allowed racism to remain rooted in our policies and practices. We are approaching our 250th anniversary as a nation and are still a very young country. It’s time to get through our obnoxious adolescence and grow up to be the adult nation that lives up to the ideals. I’m calling on the USA to grow up! We know that around 30-35% of our citizens are stuck in the maga cult and aren’t capable of that, but the rest of us have to take control.

What are we going to do with all that time we will NOT be interfering with other sovereign nations? Well, I have a few ideas:

We elect progressive leaders who will listen to the people and enact legislation as well as introduce constitutional amendments that need to be passed. These include (but are not limited to and in no particular order):

1. Ending Citizens United

2. Ending the Electoral College-president & VP elected via popular vote

3. Universal healthcare (Medicare for all is one possibility)

4. Universal child care & maternity/family leave

5. Fully funded public education-at least through Associates Degree or Trade School levels

6. Fair immigration laws (ICE will be THAWED)

7. Bias and deescalation training for all law enforcement

8. An end of gerrymandering for any reason-an independent agency must be hired by every state to draw congressional maps

9. A federal right to choose law that restores body autonomy to women

10. Trials to hold everyone from the current regime accountable for crimes committed during this national nightmare

11. Rebuild our institutions-the DOJ, the FBI, the Department of Education, etc.

12. Remove dozing don’s name from everything he’s ever put it on that belongs to the USA

13. Figure out what we are going to do with the wreckage of the East Wing. It’s sure as he!! not going to be a ballroom

14. Rebuild our economy with fair taxes for the ultra wealthy and fair opportunities for the rest of us

15. Start repairing our relationships with the allies who rightfully aren’t going to trust us for a very long time

16. Review all laws and the policies of any agency that receives government funding for institutional racism biases and fix them

17. Provide legal protection for all marginalized groups-particularly our trans and nonbinary friends who have been so unfairly targeted through the years

18. Invest in infrastructure and affordable housing

I’m sure others can add more house cleaning tasks we need to work on as a nation, but these are where my heart and mind want us to begin. This is how we start to be a nation where all are created equal; where all are respected and valued.

Subscribe now