Category Archives: elections

No Kings

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Anywhere from five to eight million people turned out for the second “No Kings” protests across the nation. The rallies took place in over 2,600 locations across the United States.

I have first or secondhand knowledge of protests in New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. They were peaceful. Crowds were almost jubilant at having an opportunity to voice their opposition to the actions of the Trump administration. The only place I heard Trump supporters showed up to counter the protest was Palo Alto, California. No Kings protesters refused to engage with the Trumpies, who they feared were trying to provoke them.

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It is a Nice Idea

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Free speech is a pain in the rear. Always has been. Always will be.

It is a nice idea. If you have freedom of speech, you have the right to say whatever is on your mind without fear of repercussions. But there is a rub. It also means the guy standing next to you has freedom of speech. That means he can say whatever is on his mind, even if you find it to be abhorrent, disgusting, threatening and maybe even dangerous.

The men who designed our government met in secret and wrote a historic document detailing the structure of the national state and enumerating the powers and responsibilities of its parts. When the document was made public, the people were not pleased. They demanded a guarantee of their rights be written into the document.

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Trump’s Happy Labor Day

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As the nation celebrates Labor Day, Donald Trump is escalating his attack on the federal workforce by trying to strip union rights from more federal employees.

Trump signed an executive order targeting workers at key federal agencies like the National Weather Service and NASA, arguing for a “national security” exemption to circumvent collective bargaining rights. This is part of Trump’s broader strategy to diminish the power of labor unions, which have long been essential advocates for workers’ rights and protections.

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Kill the Messenger

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Every damn day. That’s what it seems like. Every damn day the man seventy-seven million Americans voted back into office does something more outrageous than the day before. It is exhausting.

Trump eviscerates environmental protections. He accuses former President Barack Obama of treason. He rips up labor agreements. He plans to privatize Social Security. He forces the Smithsonian to take down an exhibit that includes his two impeachments. The European Union, Japan, Columbia University, and CBS are all surrendering to him.

And now he fires the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he doesn’t like the jobs numbers.

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249 Years In

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The date will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

John Adams, Letter to his Wife Abigail, July 3, 1776.

That guy could sure write, couldn’t he? John Adams was prescient. He accurately described the way we celebrate Independence Day. He did get the date wrong. He was certain July 2nd would be the date we celebrate. That was the day the Continental Congress passed Virginia’s resolution on independence. July 4th, the day we do celebrate, was the day Congress approved the text of the Declaration of Independence. The document, primarily written by Thomas Jefferson, spelled out the reasons for the thirteen colonies’ separation from England.

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Bombing Iran

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It has become routine. Every two- or three-days Donald Trump does something more atrocious than before and it interrupts whatever I was doing and prompts a cycle of disgust, fear, and rage and often provokes one of these blogs, forcing me to put side something I thought was more interesting. I have come to hate the fact that he sucks all the oxygen out of the room.

But despite that, I find myself unable to get upset about Trump’s recent decision to bomb Iran‘s nuclear facilities. In fact, my initial thought was simply, why did it take so long?

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Trump Transcripts

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The White House has decided to stop publishing transcripts of Trump’s public statements. They have also removed transcripts that were already posted and replaced complete videos of Trump speeches with excerpts, obviously edited. Why you might ask? The White House says the abridged video and audio provide a more complete representation of the president’s words and communication style. Yes, and I have a bridge I’d like to sell you.

While the political wags seem mesmerized by a book which contains the “shocking” revelation that President Joe Biden was showing his age as the 2024 election approached, I’ll have more on reporting that obvious after the fact revelation in a future blog, the Trump administration is doing everything it can to obscure the fact that their head man is “cognitively challenged” himself.

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