Fully Present Post 50

I spent most of my professional career working at a university in both administrative and teaching positions. My focused work was divided between domestic students, international students, and my colleagues whose sole purpose was to educate, enable, and empower students to discover their purpose and to use their knowledge, their voice, and their sense of justice to improve the world. Knowledge absent empathy and ethics can do a lot of damage. In my 25 years in higher education, I never once met an administrator or professor who encouraged students to destroy property or to disparage innocent people. People, like me, choose careers in higher education, not because it pays well (it doesn’t), but because we love the process of acquiring new knowledge and passing it on for the greater good. We are eager to build a better world by cultivating knowledgeable and principled leaders. We teach students to think critically about society and current world events within the context of history, moral justice and human progress.

I acknowledge that dealing with highly energetic, enthusiastic, and immature brains can sometimes be challenging. Students at this age can be bold and impulsive. They make a lot of mistakes, and in higher education we choose to use those mistakes as learning opportunities. We recognize that most students are learning about society outside their childhood community bubble for the first time. They are comparing their lived experiences to that of their classmates. They question how and why their childhood was filled with abundance or poverty, of acceptance or discrimination, or of strong religious beliefs or completely secular. The disparities they encounter can be both alarming and deeply disturbing for many students. They often come to the university assuming that everyone had similar childhood experiences and when they discover the systemic unfairness built into society, they want to rectify the situation. This is root meaning of “wokeness”. It is the awakening of awareness that our society isn’t as fair or equitable or just as it should and could be and wanting to do something to improve the systems. Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts were a direct response to the need to revise the current system. Those who participated in this societal revision effort were “woke” and they were fast and furious (and impatient) in their need to see changes immediately. I always knew there was going to be a backlash.

I understood that “wokeness” posed a threat to white male power and to the deeply entrenched system that privileges whiteness over people of color, men over women, heterosexuals over LGBTQ people, and Christianity over other religions. Power does not relinquish its position without a fight. I knew this and tried to warn my eager colleagues and the students on the front lines demanding fast and drastic changes. Even at the university, I dealt with the discomfort among some more conservative administrators and faculty, particularly white men who were feeling pushed aside, attacked, and often ignored.

As woke college graduates began taking their place in society, they began promoting changes that embraced diversity, equity and inclusion throughout society. I sensed an even greater backlash coming with the absence of an effective public relations effort to smooth the changes. I was not at all surprised when the Right orchestrated an attack on critical race theory and then DEI. They had been criminalizing black men and masculinizing black women for years. They pushed false allegations that the first black president was Muslim and not a “true American”. They gravitated to stoking fears of transgender men using women’s bathrooms. Then they accused teachers of “grooming” school children to be gay or transgender. They turned their manufactured outrage to the audacity of a black actress portraying the Little Mermaid (a fictional character). They attacked the actual history of the United States as somehow anti-patriotic and inappropriate for children.

Higher education and the “woke” mindset it produced was their enemy. The Right successfully mobilized non-college educated and religious zealots who rarely leave their segregated bubbles to attack higher education as the culprit for the new visibility and prominence of brown people and LGBTQ folks. Asking people to use new pronouns was somehow an affront to their personal freedom. They successfully stoked a fear of being “replaced” among white people in red states. This was the rich white man’s effort to destroy DEI and wokeness. In response, as college students often do, they soundly rejected speakers and comedians who openly challenged their newfound “wokeness”. Comedian Bill Mahr still has not gotten over it.

So, here we are. Trump, Musk, and the Republicans are hellbent on using their power to remove DEI and wokeness from society, so that they can re-establish wealthy white “Christian” and male dominance. Enter the war between Israel and Hamas and they found the perfect inroad to unfairly attack higher education. Students have always been at the forefront of fighting against wars, human trafficking, apartheid, and genocide. What they see happening in Gaza is no different. However, the Right was quick to label students who protest the genocide happening in Gaza as “woke” and “antisemitic”. They are lying. In fact, there are many Jewish students who participated in the protests against the “Israeli government”, not the Jewish people, over the indiscriminate bombing and starvation of the innocent people in Palestine. DEI welcomes the presence and inclusion of Jewish students. Always has. Perhaps a few Jewish students who are themselves Israeli nationalists feel intimidated or challenged by their peers on the matter of Israel and Palestine. However, these students were never physically attacked. Heated disagreements on this issue are wrongly being characterized as “antisemitism” by a few loud and powerful voices on the Right. That mischaracterization has led to the firing or resignations of several university presidents.

The attack on higher education continues with this Administration still intent on ridding universities of DEI. They have taken to withholding research funding if schools do not abandon their DEI efforts, revoke degrees and expel student protesters. They are “disappearing” and detaining international students who participated “non-violently” in the protests. Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, just invalidated the student visas of 300 international students who participated in protests, subjecting them to deportation. The silencing of student protests, the encroachment into curriculum matters, the misrepresentation of research as frivolous, and the withholding of funding threatens the fabric of higher education. A recent poll indicates that the actions of this Administration have led to 75% of university researchers considering a move to another country. Our scientists, innovators, and professors are being recruited by other countries, and some are already packing their bags. We are literally on the verge of the greatest “brain drain” in our nation’s history.

Let’s be real, the loss of educators, innovation, and scientific research will have a great and lasting negative economic impact on this nation. Our universities will no longer be the destination of choice for brilliant scholars and students from around the world. Our own students will fall further behind as the nation becomes dumber. And it’s all because a few rich white men are afraid to compete with women, people of color, and LGBTQ folks for the opportunity to succeed in this country.

Hatred is a powerful emotion. It is the fuel required to commit the most heinous acts of violence or to cheer on those acts. Hate hijacks our normal human empathy and silences the lessons of good and evil, suspending notions of right and wrong. In a nutshell, it makes us stupid. When our heart is overtaken by hate, we become gullible and irrational believers of lies and false accusations without evidence. The overflow of a heart full of hate becomes bold hate speech, spewing all manner of abhorrent things about others. Unchecked hate takes over the body, making us behave as though we lack common decency and humanity as we destroy everything in sight whether property or human. Hate is an energy unto itself. It is a driving force, an impossible emotion to control once we allow ourselves to be consumed by it. However, as a Christian, I recognize that the God of love, who calls us to love, also harbors hatred of certain human attributes.

In the biblical text of Proverbs 6:16, there are seven human character traits that God hates. “These six things the Lord hates, yes seven are an abomination to Him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.”

There are very few people that I genuinely hate. The few that I hate all exhibit these particular characteristics, inflicting harm and chaos upon vulnerable people. I don’t believe it is a stretch to say that Donald Trump, Elon Musk, J.D. Vance, and even Speaker Mike Johnson and a host of MAGA supporters continually demonstrate these seven attributes worthy of hate. Just to make my point, I note their promotion of white male power to the discrimination and detriment of everyone else; their constant lies about everything; their withholding of lifesaving medical care and food for the poor; their gleeful plans to make people suffer to further enrich the wealthy; the illegal firing of government workers and defunding of public health research; their disregard for laws, extortion, bullying, threats to invade countries; their embrace of evil dictators who silence, imprison and murder their own citizens without due process; the false accusations against government employees, migrants, teachers, judges, and anyone else who opposes them; and of course the drumming up of culture wars to incite animosity among neighbors and family members.

This past week, a friend asked me how I felt about people destroying Tesla vehicles. I had mixed feelings. My commitment to love and my moral compass tell me that acts of violence are wrong. However, my hatred of Elon Musk made me reluctant to feel any empathy for him because of his abhorrent actions that fuel hatred, bigotry, lawlessness, discord, and misinformation while causing death, pain, and real suffering for millions of Americans and people around the world. I admit to silently cheering his loss of billions of dollars and even the vandalism of his cars. In truth, my empathy lies with the innocent people Elon is harming. Someone mentioned the innocent people working at Tesla and I can only think that if a person lies with a dog, they should expect to get fleas.

In the end, I could only say to my friend that I understood the vandalism and that I believe these acts of vandalism should be taken as warning signs of the ultimate price Elon may pay for the hate that he has ignited in so many people. Personally, I won’t buy a Tesla, and I won’t engage in acts of vandalism nor violence against him because I have enough love in my heart to counter my hatred for him. Love keeps me level-headed. The teachings of Christ to overcome evil with good, moderates my behavior. However, I think that the hatred for these men is well-deserved since God, in His abundance of love, says humans like them our deserving of hate because of their character.

I don’t think this will end well for any of them. Not that I want or am promoting negative actions. However, I sense something bad coming for them because there are a lot of armed men who feel betrayed, threatened, hurt, and angry by these arrogant men. The hate they feel will not be contained if they lack love in their hearts and have no moral compass to moderate their actions.

The days of the United States being admired by the world as an exceptional example of democracy are over. Instead, we have become a “Mafia” state run by a mentally unstable ego-driven bully thug who demands that Congress members, industry leaders, law enforcement, news outlets, and even sovereign nations submit to him. His weapons are billionaire funding, our military power, trade tariffs, public humiliation, and now the justice department itself with threats of investigations and imprisonment. We are in this position because we looked the other way as greedy billionaires purchased our news outlets, congress members, and Supreme Court justices to fundamentally destroy our democracy and install a useful idiot with a cult-like following as king. And he is a mad king, surrounded by unqualified and highly incompetent cabinet members and advisors. The free world looks on in utter dismay as they watch us implode while China, North Korea and Russia happily siege the opportunity to advance. The changing world order is already beginning with China or Europe taking leadership and making new trade partnerships as the United States moves toward rapid moral and economic decline. We are no longer seen as reliable.

Trump is attempting to usher in a number of changes to our society that will fundamentally alter the way we treat each other. We can no longer count on the collective values of empathy, accurate news reporting, fairness in access to opportunity, and scientific innovation. We enjoyed a few good years when equality and justice were aspirations worth pursuing and when patriotism included holding our leaders accountable for upholding both morality and the rule of law. That is quickly disappearing. Factual history, expertise, and human decency are no longer widely valued. Republicans are trying to convince us that appreciating our diversity, fair treatment, and inclusion of the previously excluded is bad and that there is nothing wrong with discrimination, a lack of empathy, and limiting the rights and opportunities of some people. The days of being able to shame lawmakers for their moral failings is over. And we are about to take our inadequate efforts to provide citizens with worldclass education, healthcare, and infrastructure to a new low.

The dismantling of our government agencies that were created by our elected congressional representatives to ensure our public safety, process our taxes, build infrastructure, ensure justice and accountability, protect the natural environment, assist with our international relationships, and support scientific innovation is not only creating chaos but threatens our physical and economic well-being.

We are literally on our own. As tariffs and mass deportations drive prices up, demand for goods and services will plummet and with it, there will be massive layoffs. A recession or perhaps even another depression is likely in our future if we do not quickly change course. We know from watching other countries that corruption in government stifles innovation as new talent and new ideas, are buried by those fearful of losing their privileged positions. In a corrupt country, police and judges and journalists are bought and paid for (or silenced) by the wealthy, leaving the poor and unconnected hopeless, uncertain, and vulnerable to exploitation and injustice. Economists are forecasting that our economy is about to contract and many of the trade agreements with the rest of the world are unlikely to return if we remain an unreliable trading partner.

I suppose the plan is for families and churches to care for the sick and disabled, the injured veterans, the poor, and the elderly. Absent FEMA, small towns, cities and states will have to rebuild their community post-hurricane, tornado, wildfire, or earthquake. For most Americans, retirement will be a relic of the past without Social Security. And more prisons will become for-profit slave camps. In the poorest states, most of which are red states, only the wealthy will be able to afford healthcare, a decent education for their children, or have the ability to rebuild after a disaster.

In this new social order, women will be returned to the home to resume the role of wife and mother without voting rights again as discrimination laws are rolled back. More women and babies will die from lack of healthcare. Gays and transgender will lose their rights and be shoved back into the closet. Scientific outcomes will be funded by billionaires to suit their desired outcomes. We’ll be beholden to the wealthy and corporations to build our infrastructure as they depend on exploited prison and cheap American labor. Absent safety regulations, workers will once again lose their limbs and their lives at work without recourse or compensation.

If these are not good enough reasons to join the resistance movement happening in towns, cities, and states across the country, I don’t know what is. We either put a stop to this downward spiral now or learn to live with diminished rights and resources on our own in the coming year or so. We must fight harder in the streets, in the courts, and with our personal purchasing power. By all accounts, the resistance is having a positive effect.

It’s really hard to muster sympathy for folks who relished the thought of hurting others only to find themselves being hurt by Trump’s ruthless policies. I’ve watched their stories online where they either beg for an exemption or regret their vote. Some were hardcore MAGA and some just wanted cheaper groceries. These were people who cheered (or at least condoned) migrant families being separated, purging government of waste, fraud and abuse which was code for firing public servants, ending the war in Ukraine which meant handing Ukraine over to Putin, and imposing tariffs on our biggest trading partners at no cost to them personally.

They soon learned that there are too few “criminal” migrants to meet the big deportation numbers promised in the campaign and so law-abiding, tax-paying, God-fearing friends and family members are being carried away like criminals. They soon discover that they or their close relative who diligently works for the government providing an actual service is being fired without legitimate cause. They realize that Trump and Vance behave like 3rd grade bullies in the White House and that they have positioned our country on the side of Russia and North Korea and against our European allies on the world stage, making us an international pariah. And they realize that Trump isn’t lowering the price of groceries but raising the price of everything with his trade war while harming American made products and tourism. They realize that the medical research they were depending on to help save the lives of people they love is being cut. They now know that the food assistance and medical insurance they rely on are on the Republican chopping block. And all the while their elected Republican representative is applauding their pain or completely silent.

While it is imperative that Americans rise up to resist this Administration by filing lawsuits, protesting in the streets and at town halls, calling, emailing, and writing lawmakers to push them to obey the Constitution and to represent our interests, it may be the incompetence and in fighting within the Administration itself that disrupts this dangerous agenda. Trump and Musk are both reckless in their decision making. They act on their vilest impulses without considering the consequences beyond hurting folks they don’t like. They don’t consider the law, the promises to veterans, nor the Constitution when issuing executive orders, cancelling government funding, dismantling entire governmental agencies, and firing government workers. Several times they fired essential people only to realize they are badly needed and then they’ve begged them to return (if they can find them). When the stock market tanked and retaliatory tariffs took effect and conservative newspapers called his tariffs dumb, Trump once again put a hold on most of them. I’m certain governors also voiced their concerns about Canandian boycotts of tourism and of products made in their states.

The point is that the country should brace itself for chaos. It won’t be long before people begin to realize how much we rely on government workers. Government workers keep our planes flying safely, keep our roads and bridges passable, process our tax returns, pursue dangerous criminal rings, keep our food, water and air safe, deliver accurate weather forecasts, provide schooling for our children, protect consumers from abuse, and keep deadly diseases under control. As hurricane season approaches, it will be interesting to see how a FEMA under distress from personnel and budget cuts is able to respond.

One thing I know about the American people, and veterans in particular, is that they won’t sit quietly by and endure pain and abuse and broken promises while others laugh and enjoy themselves at their expense. The Republicans stopped holding town halls because they rightly became afraid of their constituents from all political leanings. No one wants a hollowed-out government workforce that is unable to meet the demand for services. No one wants to privatize some government services so that a few people get richer while the broader public interest is no longer served. Privatized research makes for biased and unreliable research results. Privatized schools leave poor children and children with disabilities behind. A privatized prison system incentivizes injustice towards the poor. Privatized infrastructure and media subject the public to the whims of individuals who want to push their own agenda.

The Constitution outlines the role of government to provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. The House of Representatives was specifically established to represent these desires and needs by allocating our tax dollars to establish agencies and laws that serve us. Let’s just talk about the general welfare this week.

It is not the job of people seeking to make money to provide for our general welfare. In my thinking, public health, infrastructure, education, safety regulations, weather forecasting, disaster relief, forestry, and scientific research are all in the general welfare category. Yes, we use government contractors, like Elon Musk, to carry out some of these needs. In his specific case he provides satellites and space exploration. But that work product should belong to us because our tax dollars paid for them. And because he is a government contractor, who personally benefits from those contracts, he has a conflict of interest in his current position with DOGE and should be removed immediately.

DOGE, Trump and the Republican Party are operating outside the Constitution and the law in order to destroy democracy and establish a new, internationally isolated, government with Taliban-like laws, fewer civil liberties for women and minorities, and government officials working in concert with the wealthy to further enrich and empower themselves. Doing nothing as citizens allows this to happen.

I’m hopeful by the signs that our collective resistance is having an effect. We absolutely must keep up the pressure on Congressional members and the Trump Administration. The courts, the street protests, the art, speeches, songs, boycotts, podcasts, phone calls, emails, independent media, social media posts, civil disobedience, and even the stock market are having the desired constraining effect on the MAGA agenda to restructure our country. If we push hard enough, Republican congress members will either start doing their job to represent us properly or be voted out.

I’m glad the cameras were rolling in the Oval Office on Friday for the entire world to witness the two bullies in action. I’m glad Zelinsky stood up for himself and refused to bow the knee. The interaction was outrageous. It was disheartening. It was ugly. It was all those things and so much more. We knew Trump and JD Vance were liars and that bullying and cruelty is on brand for them. We know extortion and threats are weapons in their toolbox. In this case, Trump tried and failed to extort Ukraine’s rare earth minerals for a ceasefire that Trump would not guarantee. Zelinsky, with the cameras rolling showed the world how they operate. And the free democratic world, along with most Americans, stand with Zelinsky and against Trump and Putin.

The entire nation and the world got to see how the Trump administration works by bullying politicians, the media, corporations, and judges to do their bidding. Trump operates like a mob boss who demands deference and loyalty. His fragile ego needs constant feeding. He craves praise, gratitude, and adoration in both words and symbolic gestors. It’s pathetic to watch such a needy broken human being occupying any place of authority. He is a dangerous person because his ego demands that he believes his way is the only way and that his manufactured reality is reality. He has no use for facts and cannot tolerate being contradicted by the truth. We saw his nasty pathology on full display in that meeting and afterwards. There can be no question that his illegality, his cruelty, and his alliance with Putin stems from his need to be king. The wealthy and the business leaders tolerate him because he is a useful idiot.

Their goal is to profit from the privatization of government functions. They want to use our taxpayer dollars to enrich themselves by further privatization of healthcare, prisons, education, postal service, security, research, and every other function currently run by the government. They want to make almost everything for profit without the inconvenient guardrails of regulations that keep people from being cheated, exploited, and poisoned. Perhaps this is why Margorie Taylor Greene said that government jobs were not real jobs and that government workers were stealing taxpayer money without providing any service. That was an accidental exposure about what some of this is about. Republicans are out to gut the government so that private equity can step in and make every service a for-profit enterprise paid for or at least subsidized by our tax dollars. It’s the Elon Musk model of enrichment. It’s the Walmart model where they pay their employees too little to live on, making them eligible for public assistance. It’s a recipe for the expansion of poverty, pre-mature deaths, and the loss of civil liberties.

And then there are the evangelical Christians like Speaker Mike Johnson who are more like the Taliban than Jesus. They want to shove the LGBTQ community back in the closet and send women back to the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, stuck in unhappy even dangerous marriages, while returning them to second-class citizenship. The white supremacists simply want to be in charge of everything and everyone. They feed their fears and insecurity by lying to themselves that they are the smartest and the most qualified to lead everything, despite their glaring lack of talent, expertise, experience, and qualifications. They believe “white is right” no matter what the actual reality and they are using the levers of government against DEI efforts along with the threat of violence to get back on top.

So, what do we do? We find a way to stop them. One cannot shame people like Trump, Vance, Musk and Speaker Johnson into doing what is right. They are too morally bankrupt for that. Their greed for power, money, and adoration drives them forward. We know that if Trump had lost this past election, he would have never conceded, and we would be fighting about a stolen election instead of watching Trump and Musk destroy our government and international relationships with a wrecking ball while Republicans sit by silently and watch the destruction. I suspect the true motive behind the massive destruction is to turn the government into a for-profit enterprise for private equity, to give the religious right reign over social and cultural norms, and to return white males permanently to the top of the leadership.

Normally, the media would step up as a defense against someone like Trump or Musk. However, having been threatened into submission, they keep trying under extreme duress, to normalize, minimize, and rationalize the pardoning of violent January 6 participants, the appointments of unqualified cabinet members, the illegal firing of government workers, the hollowing out of government accountability officers, the defunding of government grants, the suspension of information and regulations designed to protect us, and the open threats to sovereign nations. They are finding it difficult to justify the tariffs and mass deportations that include non-criminals who contribute to the economy. They strain to justify the attacks on transgender people, the renaming of a body of water, the rising prices, the falling stock market, the rise in unemployment and the projected falling GDP. The chaos is real and damage to actual lives is also real, but the corporate media is too afraid to report openly about its impact on the country and people. Many, like me are turning to independent and public media outlets and foreign news outlets for information.

Our next line of defense is the courts. So far, they are holding up. However, we’ve already heard Vance and Musk threaten judges. Before it goes beyond threats to actions that jeopardize our entire judicial system, we, the citizens need to stand against this Administration. We must be louder, bolder, and unrelenting in our resistence. We must financially support the efforts of civil rights organizations who are bringing lawsuits to defend our constitutional rights and the rule of law. I donate to Democracy Forward, the ACLU and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. But we must do more.

Friday, February 28th was the economic blackout day where Americans boycotted the purchase of goods and services from corporations to show our economic power. I knew about it from social media, but my friend didn’t know anything about it. When I explained to her that I couldn’t go to the movies on Friday because of the blackout, she was disappointed because she had just finished shopping. I felt bad that I didn’t mention it to her earlier since I know she isn’t on social media. I’ll do better next time.

And finally, we must use our voices to push our lawmakers to stand up against this administration by attending town hall meetings, calling their offices, emailing them, or writing to them. We can protest in the streets or outside their offices. The few who are secretly against his agenda will only gain the courage to stand up to Trump if they fear us more. However, we must keep it our protests loud, but peaceful, so that Trump cannot label any protest an insurrection and suspend the constitution. Our goal is to protect and defend our constitution and the rule of law against all enemies, whether foreign or domestic.

In this case, the enemy is domestic and resides in our own White House. I take solace in the fact that he and the people he hires are incompetent. They are making mistakes all over the place. The world is watching and laughing at them. For example, they fired the people who look after our nuclear arsenal and then had to try to find them to rehire them. They fired people working on Ebola management, again only to try to rehire them. They fired people working on the bird flu situation. Same scenario. They are so reckless that a disaster is likely to occur, and I pray too many people don’t have to suffer because of it, but this is the price we will pay for electing this lunatic. In the end, I think we will win this fight because there are more who are against him (and them) than who are for him and the number is growing. His poll numbers are falling as people begin to suffer. Watch what happens when a natural disaster hits and there is no federal relief or when millions lose access to healthcare and food assistance so the wealthiest can get another tax break.

As a practical matter, failure is inevitable as talented men and women in the government resign in protest or commit sabotage from within. This administration will be left with the most inexperienced and least talented people to carry out its warped agenda. My guess is that the whole thing will come tumbling down, leaving Trump, Vance, Musk and Speaker Johnson lying beneath the rubble. And the nation will rejoice and then rebuild, having learned how to better safeguard our freedom and democracy. I just hope I’m still here to see it.

This past week, I participated in a phone-in town hall with my congressional representative. Her muted response to the three-alarm fire facing our nation prompted me to write to the congressional leader of our party, Hakeem Jeffries. Below is the letter I sent him. Please contact your congressional leaders (by phone, email, or letter) and demand that they forcefully respond to the threats to our government, our environment, our livelihood, and our public safety. It is only when our representatives are pushed hard enough by “we the people” will they gain the courage to stand up to this corrupt and lawless bully in the White House.

February 22, 2025

Dear Minority Leader Jeffries,

I am a longtime voting democrat living in Representative Julia Brownley’s district.  I’ve written to her multiple times about the need to fight harder and louder to resist the bullying, chaos, lawlessness, cruelty, and corruption coming from Trump, Musk, and complicit and/or cowardly republican representatives.  I attended her town hall this past week and she offered little more than a reliance on upcoming budget fights with democrat objections and the pending lawsuits against numerous executive orders.  She asked us to share our stories to use as examples of how these Republican policies are hurting the American people.  I left the phone-in town hall disappointed and frustrated by the muted response to a five-alarm fire.

The problem is that Trump and Musk are rapidly destroying our government’s ability to function, ruining individual lives, making millions vulnerable to a crisis in public health and climate disasters, and destroying our international relationships.  The rising prices on everything is but one of many pains they are inflicting upon us.  Tax cuts for the wealthy is an absurdity amidst all these other atrocities they are committing.  Musk has announced pain as our patriotic duty to bear. Everything they are doing is in service to Putin, to greedy billionaires, and to the destruction of our Constitution, the rule of law, and our democratic republic. No one voted for this! This is more than about the cost of living.  This is about whether or not our civil liberties, human rights, and our ability to live healthy lives remains a possibility.  

Democrats are far too docile amid this attack!  You’re too polite and too rational with people hellbent on destroying the country and injuring innocent people.  I’m a senior citizen.  When I go to the senior center, the ladies in my social group are frustrated, fearful, depressed, and fuming with anger over what Congress is allowing to transpire.  We fear for the future of our grandchildren. We all know that we have three co-equal branches of government, but none of us can understand how republicans have allowed themselves to be bullied into compliance and worse how democrats are barely saying or doing anything about the true nature of the problem. 

We need you to ruthlessly expose the bully and the bullying of your colleagues, judges, governors, and the media.  You must ruthlessly expose the liar and all the lies.  You must expose the authoritarian aspirations of Trump and Musk and the blatant corruption, lawlessness, and loyalty to Putin. You need to defend Congress’ power of the purse and demand that government civil employees be treated fairly and that allocated funds be distributed.  These are laws he is violating, and Congress should be exposing this fact every day and, in every venue, available. There are at least 200 of you who can speak out. Calls for impeachment should be shouted from the rooftops at this point.  The sloppy cuts to government jobs and grants are literally endangering our country and negatively affecting the lives of all Americans.  

Personally, I refuse to fly right now.  I cancelled plans to visit my son and his family this spring because of FAA personnel cuts and the recent accidents.  I predict more will be coming.  I also predict a far less functional government that affects every part of our lives, including taxes.  My friends are fearful of their social security and Medicare benefits being cut. They are already experiencing higher food and drug prices.  My daughter in law is a doctor at a research hospital and they rely on NIH funding that goes towards saving lives. You must expose the cruelty of these cuts and the harm that is being done.  Not just on the House floor, but on every news media available. You have the numbers to do at least that.

My point is that Democrats are too nice, too rational, and far too quiet to break through.    You call them, “Radical Maga Republicans” and they just laugh.  You talk about working with them on behalf of the American people and they laugh more.  But truly, how can you negotiate in good faith with people who have shown themselves to be faithless?  Too many Republicans are more afraid of Trump than the people they represent.  You must change that!  Stop shielding them!!!

I call upon you and the democrat representatives to take the fight directly to the American people with loud and bold honesty.  Speak plainly and truthfully about what is happening and about the danger we are facing.  Call out the lies and expose the liars every time and without hesitation.  Our country is being destroyed, and lives are being ruined while governors and judges and news media are being threatened by this lawless Administration if they resist. We need you to use your powerful voice and gift of persuasion to inform and encourage people to take action. Represent us!!!!

And finally, you must push your republican colleagues to stand up for what is right, and I urge you to publicly expose them when they don’t.  No more shielding their private disagreements with Trump and Musk.  It does our country a disservice to allow Republicans to remain in office when they are not representing us. We pay our taxes and we gave our elected congressional representatives, (not Elon Musk or Donald Trump) the responsibility to appropriate those funds.  Demand that Trump and Musk follow the law and appropriate the funds as passed into law by our elected representatives and call upon your Republican colleagues to do the same or expose their failure to their constituents.  

We had a revolution because of taxation without representation.  What Trump is trying to do with our tax dollars is cause for another revolution.  He wants to single-handedly determine where and how our tax dollars will be spent as though he were king.  Please do not allow it.   

Sincerely,

Juanita A. Hall, voting citizen (for now)

Our nation is at that point in a marriage ceremony when the officiant asks, “If anyone has an objection to this union, speak now or forever hold your piece”. I have many objections to the lawlessness, the corruption, the recklessness, the incompetence, the deregulations, the revengeful attacks, the scapegoating, and the cruel policies that are beginning to destroy lives. But I feel like a voice crying in the wilderness. The silence is crazy! The fact is that corporate media outlets have been bullied into submission so few will report on the pain and suffering many are starting to endure. And just as disturbing is the reality that Republican lawmakers are either complicit or too terrified to oppose anything Trump and Musk decree no matter how horrific. And since Democrats are the minority party in both Houses, they are effectively powerless.

With the exception of a few courageous independent media voices (who are also being threatened), we hear very little about the government employees losing their jobs or the women dying in pregnancy, or the growing number of newborn deaths. We don’t hear much about infectious diseases (like Measles & TB) that are on the rise. We don’t hear the outcries of children being separated from their deported parents or the worries of farmers who can’t harvest their crops without migrant labor. We hear very few complaints about the rising cost of everything as inflation leaps upward as tariffs (and threats of tariffs) take effect. We hear nothing about the deaths of children who relied on food and healthcare from USAID nor the parents who mourn them. We see minimal coverage of the protests in the streets around the country. No corporate news outlet is talking about the Target boycott nor the board of director’s lawsuit against Target for mismanaging its rollback of DEI programs except through independent and social media.

Every day, we are inundated with executive order policy announcements accompanied by lies and exaggerated claims necessitating them, but we rarely hear the aftermath of the chaos, confusion and destruction they cause, nor do we learn the actual truth behind the cruelty at work. We know things are bad, but those whom we once trusted to represent us in Congress (House and Senate) are silent and helpless because we gave the Republicans, (who either serve or fear Trump), the majority. Their complicity or cowardness is allowing the spread of corruption and governmental destruction to feed the ego, pockets, and thirst for unchecked power among a few rich white men. Democrats can only complain and delay. The corporate media that we once trusted to inform us and hold people in power accountable have been bullied into silence.

The only branch of government that is holding on by a thread is the judicial branch. However, even federal judges are under threat by these thugs who have taken over our executive branch. Vance and Musk have advised Trump to simply ignore federal court rulings. They are waiting to see our reaction or lack thereof. And we all know that the Supreme Court has been compromised with stolen seats and ongoing corruption.

Another beacon on light are democratic governors. So far, they are resisting. However, the Trump Administration is threatening to withhold federal funding for disaster relief, public health, education, healthcare, research, and other vital needs if they refuse to fall in line. We will see how the struggle between the Constitutional guarantee of states’ rights and federal authority plays out. Blue states are donor states to the much poorer red states. There is definitely an argument to be made that we are now being taxed without representation because no one elected Elon Musk.

I’m painting a dire picture because the situation is dire. Trump is enjoying a 53% approval rating because ordinary citizens have no idea what is happening to our economic and social foundation because the corporate news media and social media algorithms have sidelined the alarms detailing the bad decisions, the lies, the corruption, the lawlessness and the human suffering. However, lived experiences like lost jobs, soaring food prices, loss of consumer protections, natural disasters without relief, the lack of access to healthcare, and inadequate public services can’t be hidden for long even if the media doesn’t report it. And this past week, no news outlet could hide the resignation of seven federal prosecutors who refused to follow a Department of Justice unethical order to dismiss legitimate corruption charges against mayor Eric Adams in exchange for Adam’s loyalty to Trump.

We are heading toward a crisis I never imagined possible in my lifetime. People are starting to suffer real pain in the name of “Making America Great Again” and their cries are largely going unreported and unheard. But it is not sustainable. History tells us that when the pain becomes too great, and the cries of the masses are met by callous disregard, the people with revolt. And, sadly, but predictably, the bloodshed of those responsible for their hardship will be welcomed.

We have a small window at this moment in time to object. I just hope enough of us are brave enough to do it.

I’m doing my part to sound the alarm. Trump and Musk, with the blessing or silence, of Republican lawmakers (who are in the majority), are quickly dismantling our Constitution, the rule of law, and our economic stability. Their goal is total domination and greed. They are willing to rule over ashes to feed their egos and fill their wallets just like rulers in other nations. They don’t care that this will leave survivors poor, powerless, and in pain until they revolt.

These men are spoiled toddlers craving adoration and out for revenge against anyone who defies them or tries to hold them accountable. They despise laws, decency, competent women, and people of color. They use bigotry against transgender people, immigrants, and people of color to distract their followers from their true motive to siege power and money. The uneducated bigots among us put these men in power because they thought they would inflict pain only on the people they hate and fear. They’re keeping that promise and doing much more. They are burning the entire country down and threatening our allies. As food prices quickly rise, these billionaires tell their followers that enduring the pain is their patriotic duty. Don’t be a fool!

There is still time to stop them. We must fight for everyone’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness before they illegally and systematically destroy every governmental mechanism that provides law and order, public health, economic stability, and education under the false premise of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Unfortunately, they have successfully bullied corporate media into submission, so that they can no longer be trusted to report the news accurately. And sadly, the Congressional Oversight Committee under Republican James Comer (chair) literally shut down any request for oversight this week in a despicable display of majority power. We the people cannot depend on our elected Republican representatives to represent us. They are either true believers in the Trump/Musk agenda or they are too cowardly to stand up for what is right, or they are in denial and hopeful that it’s not as bad as it seems. We are on our own.

Americans are only beginning to realize the danger and have started fighting back with lawsuits, boycotts, street protests, speeches, social media posts, political cartoons, independent journalism, whistle blowers, phone calls, emails, and letters like the one I wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson this week. I also wrote to my representative (a democrat), insisting that she fight louder and harder on our behalf. Personally, I concentrate on doing five things: 1) I donate to upcoming candidates for the mid-terms; 2) I donate to civil rights organizations for litigation efforts; 3) I email & write letters to representatives; 4) I use my social media presence to promote awareness and action even though the algorithm limits my views; and 5) I consume independent and publicly funded news media.

I share this particular letter to Speaker Johnson hoping it will inspire readers to join the fight in ways that make sense for them. At this point, doing nothing is the worst thing any one of us can do.

February 6, 2025

Dear Speaker Johnson,

It is abundantly clear from your public statements that you are not only complicit in the destruction of our country, but actively pursuing it. God, goodness, and the Constitution is nowhere to be seen in your plans.  All I see is cruelty and joy in the suffering of others.  Your Party’s apparent plans for the country will lead to deaths from disease, poisonings, and maternal complications and economic ruin for most Americans whom you were put into office to represent for the betterment of their lives. Instead, you are inflicting mass pain upon the innocent and vulnerable with your cruelty masquerading as care and righteousness.  No one is fooled except MAGA.  God and history will judge you harshly.  

Instead of giving more tax breaks to the wealthy, I suggest you start planning to use the few tax dollars you receive from “we the people” to build more cemeteries, orphanages, homeless shelters, and prisons. These are what will be needed because of your ruthless and thoughtless plans.

By design, your Party is putting destruction agents into place to destroy our healthcare, our environment, consumer protections, our education system, our infrastructure, law enforcement, scientific research, and basic human decency.  Clean air and water and a livable climate will quickly become a luxury of the past.  Women forced to have babies do not magically become good mothers.  Women in abusive marriages either die, run away or become murderers.  Nothing good will come from your plans. You can’t legislate gender or sexual orientation. Trump will bankrupt this country like he bankrupted his many businesses.  Your abdication of your oath is destroying this country and you lack the resources, trust of the people, and the ability to rebuild everything that is being destroyed. 

How many planes will crash?  How many bridges will collapse?  Who will be able to afford healthcare or home insurance? How many more maternal deaths?  How many sick newborns will die?  How many will die in the next pandemic?  How many communities will be destroyed by increasing climate disasters and lack the resources to rebuild?  How many citizens will be shot at school, on the streets, or in their homes?  How will our next generation receive a competitive education?  How will the elderly survive?  Who will join the military when veterans are mistreated?  Who is going to provide farm labor that feeds us? What government services will we be able to rely on?    

The insanity and lawlessness I’m seeing is not only frustrating but sad.  I feel like I’m watching Republicans gleefully destroy our credibility as a nation while also destroying actual people’s lives.  Trust Musk?  Trust Trump? You’ve got to be kidding!

History tells us that people who use their power to destroy others eventually are destroyed by the masses. I predict there will be violence against those who are responsible for the pain and suffering of the innocent and vulnerable.  I’m not a violent person, but many are when they get angry enough.  Something else to consider are those accustomed to using violence for righteous causes.  I suspect those FBI agents, CIA agents, law enforcement and veterans whom your policies are harming may not sit quietly as you destroy their careers and their lives.  And I can’t even begin to think of our former allies who now view this administration as a clear and present danger to their sovereignty and security.  

Do better.  The Congress is a co-equal branch of government created to represent the people of this nation, not bow down to a lawless and cruel toddler who thinks he’s a king. Stop abdicating your oversight duties and hold this administration accountable to our Constitution and our laws. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Juanita Hall

Friday, I made my last and final trip to Target (except for picking up my prescriptions at the CVS inside the Target). My husband and I have chosen to honor the call to boycott Target because of its public rollback of DEI initiatives in response to the White House pressure campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion measures. DEI programs are designed to open previously closed opportunities to women and minorities and to make the workplace a welcoming place for everyone. Other companies have also succumbed to the same pressure and have found themselves on the list of vendors to avoid. But it’s a difficult ask and I doubt removing convenient shopping options is good for consumer wallets in the long run. However, in the short run, it is imperative that we collectively make a point. I just wish black folks weren’t at the center of this boycott because we were not the only beneficiaries of DEI initiatives.

Few Americans recognize that DEI initiatives benefitted women, poor people, veterans, LGBTQ people, religious minorities, people with disabilities, in addition to people of color. Beyond opening up employment and promotion opportunities to people who were often excluded from the applicant pool, DEI initiatives gave us everything from private nursing rooms for new mothers to gender neutral bathrooms for transgender individuals, to a wider range of make-up skin colors on the shelves, to reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. At many school and workplace cafeterias, DEI simply made hot sauce and salsa available. But as I stated in previous posts, white men viewed opportunities for others and the expansion of comfort as a threat to their established culture and their exclusive entitlement to the best employment opportunities. I predicted the backlash.

So, now we need a course correction of our own. First, we need to educate the public as to what DEI actually is and who benefits from it. Second, we need to make it clear that plane crashes or wildfire disasters are not the result of DEI, but “human error” and that no race or gender or sexual orientation is exempt from making mistakes. Third, we need to make it clear that we refuse to condone the “good ole days” when white men hired and promoted their friends without regard to qualifications. Forth, we need to loudly praise the competence of those doing their jobs well and call for the removal of folks who are not. Fifth, job candidates need to be ready to sue for employment discrimination whenever it clearly exists. Sixth, employees need to ban together to demand working conditions that meet their needs and be ready to protest or strike if needed. Seventh, consumers need to request products that suit their needs and at the same time support the workforce by boycotting companies that are reverting to unfair hiring practices and poor labor conditions. And finally, we need brave whistleblowers to sound the alarm when things aren’t fair or equitable, going to independent media outlets because corporate and social media have bowed the knee to this Administration.

The war against freedom, fairness, decency, and equitable treatment throughout this country is now in full swing. It is going to take all of us working together to win this war against white “Christian” nationalism and the myth of white male supremacy. We must win in the courts, so please join me in donating to civil rights organizations like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Democracy Forward, and the ACLU. We must also win in the court of public opinion using the creative arts and the art of persuasion. We must relentlessly pressure Republican lawmakers to return their loyalty to our Constitution (not Donald Trump) with phone calls, emails, letters, and protests outside their doors. We must pressure social media outlets to post our concerns by flooding their platforms with our opinions on current affairs instead of posting photos of our trips, food, and cats so they have no choice but to allow posts of consequence to be seen. Right now, they are burying these posts, but if there are too few trivial posts, they will be forced to post other things because their advertisers require eyeballs. The same is true for television media. Turn the channel when they normalize the current dangers or decline to report the actual news.

Quick story. I walked into my nail salon this past Thursday (a few days ago) and Fox News was on the television. I told the owner that I refuse to watch Fox News because they engage in lies and fearmongering. I informed her that Fox had to pay millions of dollars for lying to their viewers. I reiterated that I wouldn’t watch a news program that knowingly tells lies. Without my specifically asking, she immediately had an employee turn to something else. The customer sitting beside me whispered, “I agree” and then thanked me. I replied that I was no longer going to tiptoe around the truth of what is happening and that our collective timidity is what got us to the dangerous and ridiculous situation we are in today.

We must face the reality that the people who are destroying lives are not timid. They are loud and bold and willing to lie, rewrite history, cheat and steal. They are ruthless and cruel. And they have demonstrated since January 20th that they are willing to disregard the Constitution and break laws to do wreak havoc on the nation, our allies, and the environment. Thank goodness they have also shown us just how incompetent they actually are.

The point is that we learn from physics that an object in motion tends to stay in motion until a stronger force stops it. Together, through collective and sustained action, we must be that stronger force.

As a person who worked closely with diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives since the late 1990s as a volunteer diversity trainer and eventually as the first Chief Diversity Officer at a university, I recognized and sounded the alarm for years that a white male back lash was coming. My cautious warnings about over-reach were often muted by short-sighed overly-enthusiast folks with louder vindictive voices. I understood that white men in power were not going to sit idly by and have the power and privileged position they enjoyed for years stripped away from them for the sake of “fairness”. In America, the moral argument always ends at the pocketbook. I recognized that excluding and often villainizing white men as oppressors and making them feel attacked and discriminated against because positions they were once entitled to based solely on their “male whiteness” were now being given to “qualified” women or minorities wasn’t going to last. I knew it. And now, in retirement, I am being proven right.

In my doctoral dissertation, I described how the system of cronyism elevated white people to positions of authority based solely on their social class connections, not their actual qualifications. That system never completely disappeared. However, the introduction of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at least required that people with the authority to hire and promote at least consider others who might be the best person for the job based on actual merit and experience as opposed to social comfort and connections. We’ve all heard the saying, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.” That is how white men operated for years to the exclusion of women and minorities from opportunities to excel. Because of undercover “sponsorships”, many times women and minorities didn’t even know certain jobs existed. At the University, I watched white men actually create positions out of thin air for other white men who needed a job.

At the root of the today’s problem, however, was a calculated widespread rumor and now belief that women and persons of color cannot actually possess skills, knowledge, and competence for high level positions of leadership. After all, didn’t the country make concerted efforts to ensure minority schools were severely underfunded and women were discouraged by bullying and sexual intimidation to stop these people from acquiring the exceptional requirements for good jobs? However, the truly ambitious and intelligent few mustered the courage and energy to overcome the obstacles to their utter dismay.

I’ve felt that dismay personally every time a master’s level student walked into my classroom and did a double take. I could almost hear their cognitive dissonance, “How is she the professor”. Or the time, many years ago when I told an old acquaintance that I worked at the University, and she immediately assumed that I must be a secretary. I politely informed her that my mother would turn over in her grave if I got all this education just to become a secretary (now administrative assistant). I know women and people of color who are doctors and attorneys and scientists and pilots all face similar assumptions about their qualifications despite their education, experience, and accomplishments. We saw it in this presidential election. Harris was fully qualified, widely experienced, and notably competent, but many people, particularly white males and older white females couldn’t believe it nor accept it. They assumed the lying, sex-abusing felon who bankrupted six businesses and defrauded contractors, banks, and the government was more qualified to be president.

So, it is not surprising to me that the Chief Villain (Trump) has halted diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the federal government and is pushing private industry and universities to do the same. His is attempting to reverse anti-discrimination laws and re-open the doors for the kind of cronyism we see playing out in his cabinet nominations. They are people whom he likes on a social level because they will be loyal to him. With the exception of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, his nominees don’t even have the knowledge or requisite qualifications for the positions they are being recommended for. Some, like JKF, Jr. are even dangerous. But with our cowardly senators, it does no good to cry over spilled milk. Instead, I’m interested in protecting and advancing folks in the midst of this storm.

My advice to parents of black and brown youth is to make sure you and your children are highly educated and highly skilled and prepared to leave the country if necessary. Keep your young people off the streets as much as possible as police will be looking to arrest them and confine them to “for-profit” prisons. I believe the plan is to utilize prisoners as cheap labor to industries that will desperately need laborers when mass deportations take effect. Already, 75% of orange pickers didn’t show up for work in Kern County California this past week for fear of being rounded up by ICE. That leaves fruit on the vine to rot. That means a shortage of fruit on grocery shelves and much higher prices. Americans will demand lower prices, and they will be happy to utilize prison labor (legalized slavery) when milk prices, produce, and meat prices skyrocket because of labor shortages. The need for labor will make black and brown young adults targets for arrest and imprisonment. Perhaps these are the “black jobs” Trump really wants us to do.

As for the educated and skilled among us, I have fewer worries because employers will always need people to get the job done. Be unreplaceable. We absolutely must invest in the education of our boys and girls now or they will literally lose their freedom in the future. I’m for taking our creativity and hard work and putting it into new businesses of our own. However, history has shown us that white people in this country are prone to envy and are willing to destroy our prosperous businesses and communities without much provocation. Envy is a powerful emotion. So, we must be wise and follow the example of the Asians who study hard, diligently do their work, and quietly accumulate wealth.

In other words, we must fly under the radar this time by integrating into diverse communities, not the old model of segregation that makes us an easy target. Choose neighborhoods with excellent schools and low crime rates where the property values increase. Let’s invest in and support each other, not tear each other down. To my fellow grandparents, aunties and uncles, cousins, and God parents, I say we must double our investment in the children in our extended families with our time and our treasure to ensure they have everything they need to grow up healthy, strong, and capable. Let’s keep our prosperity quiet and not be flashy about it. Flashiness only makes us a target. Leave the flashiness to the rappers and athletes and entertainers. The rest of us need to be serious about saving and investing for the future rather than spending our money in their stores. The time for courage, self-reliance and diligence is now.

In closing, I must acknowledge with certainty that this current government is against us. White supremacy and White “Christian” Nationalists have an agenda that is harmful to women, people of color and other minorities. They are literally following the Nazi step by step playbook. They’ve secured the media, banned books, rolled back rights, found scapegoats in trans people and immigrants and JD Vance characterized college professors as “enemies”. It all sounds so dire. But I also believe in God’s promise that no weapon formed against us will prosper. History has shown us that it always takes an ugly struggle to defeat oppression if we allow it to go too far. So, before it gets any worse, the time to fight hard for our family’s future is now. Do not look away. Do not be silent. Do not agree in advance. Do not give in to the exhaustion their assault is causing. Instead, join the fight by first ensuring your family is protected and then support efforts to oppose this evil agenda.