Fully Present Post 50

I’m having a difficult time figuring out how this Administration claims this is the “golden age” for the United States when people are being kidnapped and imprisoned by ICE thugs for the crime of being black or brown. Our economic policies are enriching the wealthy while impoverishing everyone else with high prices for healthcare, childcare, health insurance, home insurance, food, and housing. Our environment is being destroyed with the rollback of environmental regulations that protect our air and water and deal with climate change. Our health is being put at risk by placing incompetent inexperienced conspiracy theorists in charge of it. Measles is back. Hospitals are closing. Medical research is being defunded. Poor people are being thrown off of Medicaid. 400 women have been criminally prosecuted for miscarriages. Education is being gutted and a reverse brain drain is occurring in real time as the best and the brightest are choosing to study and do research outside the U.S. Actual history is being erased and rewritten to center the myth of white supremacy. Journalists are being prosecuted and news outlets are being sold to Trump supporters to control the messaging that no longer values truth. CBS News, including “60 Minutes” have been co-opted. Anderson Cooper quit. And now CNN has fallen into the same evil hands with Paramount purchasing Warner Bro. We have learned that rich and powerful men have sexually abused minors with impunity for years. And it is likely that Trump is among them.

And now Trump has joined with Israel to start a war with Iran without Congressional approval. One of their strikes killed over 50 middle school girls. None of these things make us safer or more secure. Innocent lives are being lost. Billions of dollars are being wasted, and our country will again become the target of terrorists’ attacks at a time when the FBI has been gutted and turned over to that corrupt party animal Kash Patel.

I ask myself if these people in charge, Trump, Mike Johnson, Steven Miller, JD Vance and the billionaires who fund them, are actually short-sighted or if they plan to rule over ashes? Their actions are so incredibly destructive that I can’t help but wonder if their plan is to ultimately destroy the country and its people. And for what reason? You can’t destroy the environment without dire consequences to everyone, including themselves. You can’t steal taxpayer money to enrich yourselves with luxury planes and ballrooms and lavish parties while people struggle and starve. It makes no sense to allow people to be chronically sick or even die by making medical care unaffordable and pushing misinformation while defunding medical research and still expect to have a healthy population able to contribute and defend the country. What they are doing is unsustainable. And now they are sending our military into harm’s way to distract from the Epstein files. None of these moves are an improvement.

This country is unrecognizable to me. And yet, I am hopeful that enough judges and citizens will continue to wake up and resist. There are more sane than insane people in this country who aren’t willing to sacrifice their freedom, their health, and their children’s future to continue to feed the ego and greed of a madman and his white nationalists base of supporters. I predict that a real revolution is coming and that it will be sooner rather than later.

This coming week, February 24, 2026, I will boycott Trump’s State of the Union and instead tune in to the alternative broadcast of “The People’s State of the Union” live from the National Mall at 5pm (PST) organized by MoveOn.org and Meidas Touch Network . The event will be hosted by Katie Phang and Joy Reid. This is yet another way to peacefully express opposition to this administration and its destruction of the rule of law, our Constitutional rights, and basic human decency.

We all know this president feeds on the loyalty, debasement, and adoration of people. He thrives on being seen. Let’s not feed him. In every poll, his approval numbers should continue to plummet. At every public appearance he needs to hear our “boos” of disappointment and disgust. On every social media platform, he needs to encounter our artwork, songs, commentary and skits opposing his lies, corruption, cruelty, and incompetence. At every entertainment event, he needs to hear the voices of opposition from entertainers and athletes. On every major street across the country (and the world), he needs to see the people out protesting and making fun of him. On every comedian’s stage, he should be the butt of every joke. On every tall building and billboard, there should be banners and film projections of his corruption. In every industry he touches, he needs to observe the exit of competent people. Outside his small circle of MAGA cultists and White House sycophants, there should be no place for him to find the praise and adoration he desperately craves to feed his depravity and his oversized ego.

I can now say with certainty that anyone still supporting this president, is not only anti-American but indecent and inhumane. We cannot be friends. We have a convicted felon as our president who lies, cheats, bullies, defrauds, insults, threatens, takes bribes, extorts, and sexually abuses women. He has created an army of undertrained ICE agents who are literally kidnapping and imprisoning people of color off the streets. He is a sexual predator. At the very least he was complicit with Epstein’s trafficking and rape of children. Today, he is protecting the perpetrators by not only labeling this ordeal a hoax but instructing his Department of Justice to refuse to prosecute the pedophiles. At the very worst, he was very likely an active participant. He is lying when he says that the files exonerate him. It is the exact opposite; the files implicate him. Thank goodness for Senator Ted Lieu who is publicly exposing his alleged behavior.

So, I can say with conviction that any person who continues to support or give deference to this man or to Speaker Mike Johnson, Pam Bondi, Steven Miller, JD Vance, Kash Patel, RFK jr., Kristi Noem, and others working on his behalf, is not worthy of my friendship nor respect. I stand with the majority of Americans who want justice for the victims of the Epstein trafficking ring. I want justice for the immigrant families brutalized and torn apart by this ruthless and lawless ICE agency. I want justice for the many government employees whose lives were turned upside down by DOGE. I want justice for the innocent lives that were lost because of cut to funds for USAID, medical research trials, abortion bans, and cuts to Medicaid. I want justice for the American people who have been paying 94% of the cost of illegal tariffs imposed on imports from around the world.

Steve Bannon was right when he said that people will go to prison if the Democrats win the mid-terms. So, despite every scheme Trump and these Republicans are trying to enact to keep us from voting or to redistrict or to otherwise steal the election, we must be relentless and determined and smarter than them so that we successfully vote them out of office at every level of government (city, county, state, and federal).

We the people will not bend the knee like too many corporate leaders, law firms, media outlets, and republican politicians. We will stand firm and stand together in every way possible. And denying Trump the television ratings he craves by boycotting his State of the Union address is one more important way to oppose him.

Republicans understand that they cannot win upcoming elections unless they either cheat or greatly limit the ability of citizens to vote. This past week, the Republican led House of Representatives narrowly passed a voter suppression bill called the SAVE America Act. This law requires citizenship ID to register to vote. This means all eligible voters will need to provide a birth certificate that matches their current name or a U.S. passport. The result is that a married woman who took her spouse’s last name and any other person who has legally changed their name during their lifetime, will have to present a U.S. passport in order to register to vote. The SAVE America Act is unlikely to pass in the Senate where it will require 60 votes. The problem is that this authoritarian president has announced that he will enforce the provisions of the SAVE America Act with or without Congressional approval. “There will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!” DJT

Yet again, this president intends to circumvent the Constitution and deny states and citizens their Constitutional rights. With a corrupted Department of Justice under his control along with a brutal Department of Homeland Security ready to enforce his orders, it has become difficult and time consuming to withstand the continuous violation of our rights. We’re seeing it every day as ICE violates our Fourth Amendment rights by kidnapping people off the streets without probable cause and without warrants. We see it in the arrest of journalist and students exercising their free press and free speech rights. The president has stolen the right of Congress to impose tariffs and to attack other countries without so much as a whimper from Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. Congress passes funding bills, only for this president to deny funding. The express duty of the executive office is to faithfully execute, or enforce, the laws, not make them. But under this Republican Congress we have seen a full-scale dereliction of their oath to protect and defend the Constitution. The Republicans have instead sword loyalty to Trump or have remained silent. I have no doubt that Trump will use his private police force, ICE, to enforce his voter ID orders and that this Republican Congress will allow it.

It is our patriotic duty to win the Midterms so we can turn this country around and finally hold this corrupt and lawless administration accountable. To accomplish this, we must not allow them to prevent us from voting. His lawless executive order will be challenged in court, and he will likely lose again, but what happens in the meantime could be devastating to our democracy and the rule of law. So, we need to arm ourselves and our adult children with either birth certificates or a U.S. passport. I recommend the passport because it serves a dual purpose of facilitating travel outside the U.S. which may become necessary. I concede that passports are expensive and that it currently takes about 2 months to secure. I suppose it will take longer in the coming days since so many government workers were fired under DOGE and that passports will be in higher demand. So, my advice is to request your passport immediately and offer to assist loved ones with the process or the funds if possible. My husband and I renewed our passports as soon as Trump was re-elected as a precaution. I hope many of my longtime readers followed my lead at that time.

The second thing we must do is financially support the organizations who will be challenging this law or executive order in court. Organizations like Democracy Forward, the NAACP Civil Defense Fund, the ACLU, and Democracy Docket are gearing up for this fight but they need our financial support. They have been fighting and winning the illegal and unconstitutional executive orders by this president since he took office. This is yet another fight they are committed to taking on. The lower courts have stood between us and authoritarian rule for now. However, the Supreme Court, thankfully slow, keeps making us question its commitment to the Constitutional and basic ethics.

I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to applaud the thousands of highly qualified and experienced lawyers who resigned from this corrupt Department of Justice (DOJ) since the beginning of the year. Some were fired because they were viewed as disloyal to Trump. The good news for us is that lawyers don’t just stop lawyering. As public servants at their core, many have set up or joined law firms dedicated to defending our constitutional rights against this vindictive and authoritarian administration. The American Bar Association has reported that the DOJ has a severe shortage of attorneys and is having trouble recruiting the best and the brightest to fill their ranks. The incompetence and lawlessness of the current DOJ attorneys keep showing up in court and judges are becoming increasingly impatient with them.

Even though we should be glad that this administration keeps losing in court (93% of the time), we can acknowledge that Don Lemon was correct when he said, “the process is the punishment”. Threatening investigations and prosecutions of Trump’s past and present political enemies has had a chilling effect on universities, news organizations, businesses, and others. Trump is counting on the public humiliation of an arrest and indictment (even if proven frivolous) and the disruption and stress of having to hire an attorney to fight the charges until they are dropped or litigated to bend everyone to his will. This is why some law firms, media organizations, and corporations have cut deals in advance. They want to avoid the headache and get on with their business. We shouldn’t let them. They should pay the same price Target did for their cowardice.

But even more egregious is the fact that we the people are paying for his vengeance and ego. It is our tax-payer dollars funding the corruption and dismantling of our judice system. In addition, every time this DOJ redirects are limited resources away from actual criminals, they are leaving citizens more vulnerable to actual crime.

And finally, we must be willing to protest loudly and courageously if we are going to keep our rights and take back this country to a place where our freedoms, Constitutional rights, and the rule of law is enforced. I’m in favor of speeches, commentary, and words of persuasion. I love it when athletes, actors, and social media influencers become activists. I’m in favor of peaceful street protests, economic boycotts, meetings with lawmakers, and artful expressions of resistance. I love the songs, the skits, the projections on walls, the artwork, the comedy, and whatever else creative folks come up with to resist. The polls are showing that Trump is widely unpopular and that the Republicans will lose the Midterms. Let’s live up to our national anthem where we proclaim ourselves to be living in the land of the free and the home of the brave. We are the brave.

That is why we must make sure we vote this November. We must do everything within our power to be ready to cast our vote. Let’s gain a majority in the House and Senate to impeach and remove Trump. And then let’s reclaim our Department of Justice and send him and his goons to prison so that true justice is served. Let’s live up to our pledge to be “one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all”.

There is a segment of our country who choose to believe that straight Christian white men are the rightful leaders of government, society, and industry based solely on their skin color, maleness, and Christian identity. Their rise to power through unbridled greed, exploitation, theft and exclusion through the use of violence and intimidation makes them think they’ve earned the right to dominate everyone on the planet. It was never talent or wisdom or intelligence that put them in charge; it was their propensity to kill and intimidate. These men have always lacked the moral compass that evokes empathy and compassion for others. Their egos make them reckless. And they continue to demonstrate their short-sighted belief that “might makes right”.

Unfortunately, they have managed to convince some straight white women that they can live comfortably under their protection. So, they, too, uphold this absurd patriarchy along with the myth of white supremacy. It is only when a husband dies or betrays them that they discover their own helplessness under the flawed system they trusted to take care of them. Many end up destitute or remarry anyone who brings in a paycheck, no matter how he treats them or their children. I pity the modern “trad” wives who will eventually learn the hard lessons of their uneducated misguided grandmothers.

Beyond recognizing the inevitable plight of the trad wife, I recognize that common sense and history repeatedly prove that talent and ambition are not concentrated within one group of people and that rebellion against cruel and unfair power structures in always inevitable. There will always be people who recognize the humanity in people beyond skin color, gender, language and culture. There will also be people who hate unfairness with every fiber of their being. These people appreciate the fact that talent, creativity, and intelligence are spread across the human race. They possess empathy and compassion. They despise cruelty and violence used to oppress, exploit, and torture others for person gain. And they despise the cowards who ignore the human suffering of others at the hands of the greedy degenerates. These are the humanitarians who birthed the DEI movement.

As a person who worked at the forefront of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts at the university level since the late 1990s when it was first established as a movement, I always knew that a backlash was inevitable. The seeds of opposition were being planted every time the doors to opportunity were opened to women and people of color. The seeds were watered every time qualified women or persons of color were placed in positions that white men believed belonged to them, especially when the woman or person of color excelled in the position. The seeds blossomed every time the creativity, talents, intelligence, and successes of women and people of color were publicly recognized. As their false narrative of white male superiority was exposed for the farce that it is, they grew increasingly fearful of being “replaced” for their mediocrity was exposed to everyone. I knew that the oversized egos of violent men who lack empathy and compassion would lash out. I knew that those who have exclusively enjoyed positions of power and a privileged place in society would not easily forfeit both the obvious and the invisible benefits bestowed on them from every sector of society. And, unfortunately, I was right.

These people, mostly white men, grew up being afforded the benefit of the doubt from the justice system, from teachers, bankers, the media, and from employers. They were accustomed to being promoted based on charm, good looks, and relationships, and not necessarily merit. They were accustomed to laws being made in their favor and government structures being designed to propel them upward and to protect them from disaster. White men were the initial benefactors of social security, the GI Bill, farm aid, land grants, bank loans, government bailouts and other government programs to extend their opportunities and to build their wealth while people of color and women were explicitly excluded from the same wealth building opportunities and protections. For most of this country’s history, they kept the right to vote within their purview, denying others a say.

As a result, white city governments routinely channeled resources to white neighborhoods and away from areas where people of color were forced to live. White schools were better funded, utilities and infrastructure in white neighborhoods was better, and even the air and water were cleaner because polluting industries were relegated to the areas where black and brown people lived. Entire sectors of employment were closed to women and people of color. And it was the job of police to ensure that black and brown people didn’t demand better than they got. Every hint of rebellion was met with violence. Even black towns that thrived despite the obstacles were visited with certain destruction by angry white mobs.

In the era of Trump and his white supremacist associates like Steve Bannon, Mike Johnson, Elon Musk, and Steven Miller, the use of force is again front and center. They demonize black and brown people with false accusations designed to justify their heinous actions. It wasn’t an accident or the work of a staffer when Trump posted a meme of the Obamas as apes a few days ago. Trump has deputized people willing to terrorize and rid the country of as many black and brown people as possible through unlawful detainment and deportations. They have halted the legal immigration of people of color while welcoming white people. And now they are actively working to prevent people from exercising their right to vote, even floating the idea of federalizing all elections (unconstitutional) and using ICE agents as voter intimidation.

The problem is that too many people have evolved to recognize evil. I’m happy J.D. Vance was openly booed at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics on Friday. More people recognize that cruelty and violence as tools of intimidation and extortion are inhumane and intolerable. With the benefit of history, many people reject the notion of white supremacy and domination. Many people in this country have come to embrace the reality that our diversity has been the strength of this nation. They recognize that equity is simply fairness, not preference based on race or gender or religion. And they understand that including everyone in decision making, celebrations, and as contributors to the American culture enriches our lives and doesn’t detract from it.

It’s going to require increased boldness and bravery from moral humans to continue to stand up against Trump and MAGA and the white suprematist who want to return to the days of oppression, cruelty, and white male dominance. Those were not the good ole days; those were the days of terror for all but a few. It’s clear that corporate leaders, university leaders, media leaders, Republican leaders, military leaders and even some church leaders lack the moral courage to do what they know is right in this time of peril. How disappointed we are in them. And when this is over, they should all be replaced.

So, it is up to us regular citizens to use every tool in our toolbox to fight against this evil administration and the wealthy white supremacists who finance them. We are not the silent citizens of Hitler’s Germany. We’ve learned the lesson that silence is complicity. So, we make a lot of noise this time in protest. History and justice have repeatedly shown that the power of the people is ultimately greater than the people in power.

On Friday my frustrated husband lamented that Trump has broken everything. This came after hearing that Don Lemon, acting as a journalist, had been arrested by the Department of Justice in clear violation of the First Amendment. The arrest was appalling because it flies in the face of everything we have come to expect with regards to our Constitutional rights, especially freedom of the press. We’re watching one wicked violation after another. It’s as though the basic morality and common decency we expect in our society is being challenged by evil people in power. It’s as though the Constitution itself no longer exists. But it does exist. What we are seeing is that the mechanisms to enforce morality, decency and even the Constitution are weak if not missing altogether because a truly evil person is in power.

A perfect example of this is the fact that the Senate failed to remove Trump from office, relying instead on the Justice system to prosecute his criminal behavior. Merrick Garland started too late and the courts took too long to get to trial. Despite the Constitution provisions against it, Trump was permitted to run for president in 2024 after engaging in an insurrection. Many law scholars thought the 14th Amendment of the Constitution was automatic in its enforcement, (like having to be 35 years old, born in the U.S., or serving for only two terms as president). But it wasn’t. Seeking enforcement, several state attorney generals took up the issue, leading to a Colorado judge ruling that Trump was disqualified from being on their state ballot because the events of January 6th were ruled an insurrection. However, the Supreme Court ruled that states lack the authority to disqualify federal candidates. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court decided that only Congress had the authority to enforce the disqualification provision of the Constitution. And under an intimidated or complicit Republican Congress, the issue was promptly pushed aside, and Trump was allowed to run again.

This Republican Congress and compromised Supreme Court have abdicated their duties as the second and third co-equal branches of government, rendering the mechanisms to enforce the Constitution powerless. In particular, this Republican Congress stands silently by as Trump repeatedly violates the Constitution because members are terrified of losing a job they aren’t even doing. We continuously watch Trump violate the emoluments clause in the Constitution that prohibits federal officeholders from receiving gifts or payments from foreign states without congressional consent. The Republicans did absolutely nothing when Trump accepted a $400 million plane from Qatar.

The tariffs he placed on the entire world were in violation of the Constitution as the right to impose tariffs clearly belongs to Congress. And yet, we are leaving it to a compromised Supreme Court to rule on something so clearly stated in the Constitution. This is the same Court that shocked Constitutional scholars by granting the president immunity if he breaks the law in his role as president. The fact that the Supreme Court is even giving a hearing to issues like birthright citizenship, declaring war without Congress, tariff powers, and other Constitutional absolutes that we assumed were clearly stated as the law of the land for the past 250 years is disturbing and destabilizing.

The violation of the rights of citizens to protest, to be secure in their home and person, and to due process, are being trampled upon by government sanctioned thugs on our streets without any mechanism to stop them. The Fourth Amendment reads: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” ICE agents are clearly violating the Constitution every time they kidnap and detain people without warrants, based solely on their skin color or accent. They call these “Kavanaugh stops” because Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh issued a bench ruling allowing ICE to briefly question people based on their skin color, accent, and occupation. However, ICE has exploited the ruling, violently denying basic civil rights. The moment they chase and tackle people to the ground, confiscate a cell phone, break someone’s window, knock down a door, or seize a person without a warrant, they are violating the Constitution. We all know it, but we are helpless to stop it. Brave bystanders video tape the atrocities for the world to see. We’ve seen that those who try to intervene to protect victims are being arrested, pepper sprayed or worse, shot dead.

It feels horrible to watch our Constitution being trampled upon. Decent people are angry and frustrated like my husband because the mechanisms and people who are supposed to protect and defend the Constitution have been co-opted by people appointed to positions of power who are clearly violating their oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Instead, the leaders of the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Department of Defense (War), and the Department of Homeland Security have brazenly replaced their oath to the Constitution with a loyalty pledge to Donald Trump. And the Republican Congress is silent and complicit, too cowardly to do their job. The same is true of the majority of Supreme Court justices who have taken bribes or who subscribe to white Christian nationalism.

We have a mob boss in the White House who brazenly threatens, bullies, bribes, extorts, and seeks retribution against those who oppose him. His brutal tactics have undermined the mechanisms designed to enforce our Constitution and the rule of law. His attitude is that of a naughty child who says to his teacher or parent, “Make me!” The problem is that those who have the legal and Constitutional authority to “make him” have repeatedly backed down. Even corporate leaders and corporate news organizations have bent the knee because this president has seized the authority to destroy their businesses using the levers of government.

So, it is up to we, the people, to “make him”. We must continue to peacefully protest in the streets like yesterday and the past several weeks. We must continue to create songs and other works of art to oppose this lawlessness. We must continue to cut off Trump supporters from social circles. We must continue to speak truth to power by calling and writing to our representatives. We must continue to use our economic boycott power to pressure businesses that support Trump to stop. We must applaud FBI agents and government lawyers and military generals who quit their jobs in protest. We must support public media like NPR and PBS. We must support organizations that sue the Administration for violations of the Constitution. Scott Galloway is calling on people to lean on corporate media profits by cutting down on streaming services. And this November we must go to the polls and vote for candidates that are brave and boldly committed to standing up for the Constitution and to holding all of the lawbreakers accountable.

I responded to my husband’s frustration that I view this as an opportunity to rebuild what was broken into something stronger. We now recognize the weaknesses that allowed one maniac to wreak havoc on our country and the world. Once we have rid ourselves of him and his followers, we can replace what was broken with something much better and far more resilient.

I never imagined our country would be in this position. And yet, here we are with the 2026 version of the gestapo killing citizens and dragging suspected immigrants off to detention centers without regard to their legal status. I never imagined that our government would encourage ICE agents to ignore laws and to brutally attack citizens who exercise their constitutional rights to free speech and to peacefully assemble. The courts have explicitly said that citizens have the right to videotape the actions of ICE, and yet ICE repeatedly rejects that right.

I never imagined that our government would lie about citizens whom they have injured (or murdered) to excuse the brutality of their under-trained violent and thin-skinned ICE agents who violate the civil rights of citizens and the human rights of black and brown suspected immigrants. To be clear, they aren’t going after criminals as they proport; they are going after large detention numbers, especially if the detainees are people of color. This is about ethnic cleansing. The architects of this policy and those who endorse it envision a nation that is whiter and continues to be dominated by white males. They fear diversity. They fear equity. They fear inclusion. They realize that the majority of white people are far too insecure and incompetent to compete in the classroom and the workplace on a level playing field, so they are trying to protect their privilege. The rich white men in power are using their power to hang perpetuate a myth of their superiority. A quick observation of the silence and inaction of Republican leadership, corporate leaders, and military leaders tells us everything we need to know. Their silence and inaction are complicity.

But it will not work. The Trump assertion that might makes right, is crumbling before our eyes as principled people, artists, intellectuals, journalists, judges, and leaders around the world join together in opposition to his bullying. Some prosecutors, politicians, and FBI agents are simply quitting. We the people are joining hands in opposition to the tyranny that is trying to take root in our communities and our country. The opposition is not quiet.

I’m glad the Super Bowl is featuring Bad Bunny and Green Day. Both speak openly against the tyranny of Trump. Actors at award shows have a lot to say. Comedians aren’t holding back. I’m glad that Trump is booed when he shows up to public events. I’m happy to see the rise of independent media outlets to report the news since Trump co-opted traditional media outlets like CBS. I admire the people of Minnesota who have bravely taken to the streets to protest the ICE disruption and terror in their state. They are protesting in sub-zero temperatures. They are confronting ICE and taking videos of their lawlessness to inform the nation of the danger to our morality and our freedom. The crowds are notably filled with white people standing up against a white suprematist agenda.

What has made this country prosperous is our diversity. People from all over the world have contributed innovation, blood, and sweat to build this nation from the ground up. Americans from all backgrounds have fought in our wars. Notably, the billionaire president was himself a draft-dodger. The continued hypocrisy on so many fronts is appalling. It is clear that those who claim this nation was built solely by white people and for white people are either dishonest or delusional. Those choosing to bury the atrocities of native American genocide, of slavery and Jim Crowe, and the years of Chinese exclusion and Japanese internment camps are dishonest. We won’t allow history to be erased.

In addition to this, there are those who cling to the belief that white people are inherently better than others. If they would only open their eyes to see the reality that talent, intelligence, ambition, grit, courage, and creativity are distributed across the entirety of humanity and our strength has come from welcoming the best and the brightest and the hardest working to our country. We are a nation of immigrants. We have benefited from having people of all backgrounds embrace our country. And yet, it burdens and threatens enough white people to observe black, brown, and yellow excellence.

So, I stand with the white people of Minnesota. I will resist the anti-immigrant narrative and the ethnic cleansing of our country in whatever way possible. Even though it is difficult to watch, I will spend time each day watching the videos taken by brave citizens intended to keep us informed and to sound the alarm. I will not turn away or be silent like the citizens of Germany when Hitler was rounding up the Jews. Just like the Gestapo, ICE will begin going door to door. In a nation of 300 million people, it is estimated that 11 million may be here illegally. And honestly, only a tiny percentage of them are dangerous criminals. The rest are hard working. They are contributing to our local economies and paying taxes. It is a lie that they are voting. Every cost analysis we have has shown that they are contributing more to the economy than the few benefits they are getting.

Like any reasonable person, I am bothered by the constant lying coming from government officials. I am bothered by the mischaracterization of immigrants. I am more bothered that a third of the country are either unaware or so gullible or so filled with prejudice that they’ve embraced xenophobia and the brutality it causes.

It bothers me even more that our tax dollars are being used to fund lawless brutal ICE agents. If there was a way to withhold my tax dollars from being wasted by this ridiculous government under Trump, I would. For now, I’m willing to peacefully protest and to write to our representatives to express my displeasure with our tax dollars being used to fund ICE. I’m willing to boycott corporate media outlets in favor of independent media. I’m willing to help fund organizations that fight the lawlessness in court and the organizations that organize peaceful resistance efforts. And I’m willing to vote wisely this November to elect men and women who will defend our nation from this tyranny and hold these ICE thugs accountable.

I know there are people who are willing to take this further. I’ve seen the fully armed Black Panthers walking the streets to defend against ICE. The terror and lawlessness of ICE agents must end before bloodshed erupts across the nation. This is a country with more guns than people and a second amendment that protects the right to use that gun in self-defense. Imagine masked ICE agents breaking down a door without a warrant and being greeted by gun fire. It’s not far-fetched.

It is our responsibility to collectively reject Trump’s demand for a 50% increase in military funding. He wants our tax dollars and our children’s lives to fuel his imperial ambitions, not deliver healthcare, housing, infrastructure, and a safety net for Americans. Trump is an egotistical bully who wants to rule other countries and steal their resources to line his pockets and those of his billionaire buddies. And he is willing to use his power to silence us into submission with his private police force: ICE. If he is allowed to continue, the blood shed that ensues will be that of the average citizen, not his family members.

However, he has learned nothing from history. In fact, if reincarnation was a thing, I would wager that Trump is the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler. His instincts are no different and I pray that his demise in disgrace will be no different. I also pray that this time we the people do not allow him to drag the entire nation down with him. It’s beginning to look like his failure is eminent if we continue to loudly resist.

I have mixed emotions about the increasing role artificial intelligence has in our society. On the one hand, I gladly pay the extra $40 each year for AI to read my mammogram results in addition to the experienced radiologist. I enjoy playing backgammon against an AI opponent almost daily. My eldest daughter and I used AI to create an issue-specific children’s book for my grandsons. For the book, AI took the details of my prompt and generated a nice story along with beautiful illustrations. I admit to feeling conflicted about not employing an illustrator and bypassing the publishing industry altogether. But with minimal tweaking, the book is in the hands of my grandsons and available for purchase on Amazon.

Like many, I’ve grown accustomed to being greeted by AI when I make business phone calls. I don’t balk at AI suggesting responses in text messages or when it informs me that it’s time to stand up and move around. I allow it to vacuum my floors, choose my next YouTube video or Instagram reel, remind me of appointments and answer simple questions. Several times each day, I ask it to set timers and alarms and to call people on the phone for me. I appreciate real time driving directions and language translations. AI tracks my steps and does its best to anticipate my future needs based on my past actions and preferences. In many ways, AI has made my life easier, but I’m still not utilizing most of its current capacity. Perhaps I never will especially since those humanoid robots scare me. And I’m wary of some of the other things it can do.

Friday night, my oldest daughter came for a visit. As a business owner, she is really into utilizing ChatGPT to help her gather data, organize her work, and inform business decisions. She allows it to generate emails on her behalf and a host of other things. She loves it. But the two of us agreed that content we find online is becoming difficult to determine whether or not it is real. AI generated content on the internet and on social media has proliferated to a great extent. AI can create great songs utilizing AI generated voices, music, and lyrics. Even the performer can be AI generated. There is a popular gospel song performed by a beautiful black female artist that we couldn’t decide was real. After much research, it was evident that there was no definite answer to be found, only widespread speculation.

This isn’t good. I’m happy to laugh at AI generated videos of infants having fun with their parents or fishermen rescuing ocean wildlife or animals behaving like humans. So much of it is “AI slop”, meaning the quality is so low that you can tell it is AI generated. But there is other AI generated content that is dangerous in that the quality is so good that it’s difficult to know whether what one is listening to or watching is reality. In a society that makes decisions based on information, the corruption of information is dangerous. When we can no longer determine the veracity of what someone said or did because their image, voice, and location have been hijacked, we have a problem. That’s what we are seeing happen in real time. AI is here and the time for regulation is overdue. I don’t think the marketplace is strong enough or fast enough to protect us from the harms at our doorstep.

Admittedly, there are other aspects of AI that I have not yet embraced. I still haven’t hired a driverless vehicle. I’m not quite comfortable yet. I’m clear that I won’t ever be cool with AI companions taking the place of actual human interaction. But I can see how elderly shut-ins might benefit. But I’m fearful for all the young people, particularly young men, who are substituting AI girlfriends for flesh and blood women. I’m concerned about AI therapists. I’m concerned about the AI hallucinations and about its propensity to resort to blackmail for self-preservation. Just as concerning is the number of talented and smart people who are losing their jobs to AI. Songwriters, illustrators, receptions, secretaries, teachers, factory workers, actors, drivers, data analysist, and many others are being replaced by AI.

My daughter calls it progress. She’s confident that people will find other things to do to make themselves useful. I suppose she is right. But I do worry that this disruption is different from that of the past where paths to adaptation and other opportunities seemed much more obvious. I’m worried about the corruption of information and the harm it will cause. I’m worried that young people will lose their ability to build healthy, real-life relationships and I’m worried about a whole society of bored young people living without purpose.

AI is here to stay. How we feel about it and how we respond to it is the question. However, I am convinced that banning all regulation of AI as Trump has announced, is not the wise thing to do.

My husband and I toasted in the New Year with a prayer that 2026 would be a better year than 2025 for our country. So far, our prayers have not been answered with the invasion of Venezuela, the threats against other sovereign nations, brutal ICE raids, more lies, the defunding of childcare in five blue states. and the shooting of protesting Americans by under-trained thinned-skinned ICE agents.

It’s difficult to escape the angst and anger coming from everyday people. I walked into a local store the day after Renee Nicole Good was murdered by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. Five or six unrelated customers at the checkout stand were engaged in a collective venting of their anger and frustration with the actions of the current administration. From the store entrance, I could hear them clearly. They called for the removal of Trump and replacing him with almost anyone. One guy said he would be happier to have Honey Bo Bo as president. In that same store, a gentleman shared his story of how an ICE agent turned his gun on him and his friends at a protest. Another said that his wife is a childcare provider and she is expected to work without pay because the president just cut off childcare funding.

The outrage is everywhere, including inside me. I’m furious at the gaslighting that followed what every video and eyewitness account proves was an unjustified murder by ICE. True to form, this administration hired incompetent, inexperienced, unethical, and cruel people to terrorize immigrants, black and brown people, and anyone who dares to confront their lawlessness. And Vice President Vance adds fuel to the fire by claiming that these lawless ICE agents who are violently tackling people in the streets, denying basic civil rights, kidnapping folks, destroying personal property, trespassing, and now killing people have “absolute immunity”. That cannot be true, and his dangerous claim is already being challenged by the attorney general in Minnesota.

I’m thankful there are protests breaking out all over the country. I’m glad people are speaking up in the stores, at the senior center, and at all sorts of social gatherings. Americans are finally waking up to the reality that the threats to our lives and livelihoods are real. The Epstein Files was a rude awakening for many. But they are also realizing that our tax dollars are funding masked thugs parading as ICE agents rounding up men, women and children and disappearing them without regard to their legal right to be in this country. People are waking up to the fact that the Republicans have no plan to provide affordable health insurance, protect our freedoms, or to defend the rule of law. People are seeing an out-of-control outbreak of measles and the flu and the defunding of critical health research. They are watching the co-opting of news outlets and the frightened by the promise that AI is going to take their jobs. The fact that tariffs have driven prices up, that some goods are disappearing from our store shelves, and that job growth has slowed while the social safety net is being destroyed is finally becoming apparent. Women are experiencing a health care dessert as OBGYNs flee red states. Other women are finding it impossible to get the healthcare they need in an emergency. And no one except defense contractors and the tech companies benefit from our country invading weaker countries to steal their oil and rare earth minerals under the guise of drug trafficking or national security.

I predict that 2026 will be the year of revolution. And revolutions are never pretty. I feel the temperature rising to the boiling point among everyday people. Some political historians say it only takes 3.5% of a population to rise up to overthrow a government. I predict that we are getting there pretty fast. I hope the protests remain peaceful, but with the level of outrage bubbling up, I doubt that will be possible much longer.

In 2026, I will remain peaceful. I will support competent candidates who defend the Constitution, adhere to the rule of law, work on behalf of the American people, and who vow to hold these bad actors accountable. I will keep funding organizations that file lawsuits in defense of our democracy and the rule of law. These include the ACLU, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Democracy Forward, and the Democracy Defenders Fund. I will also continue to donate to Indivisible and Women’s March Network because I support citizen resistance efforts.

Above all else, I will follow the teachings of Jesus. I will love my family and neighbors more fiercely than ever. I will be kind to strangers. I will keep doing my part to protect the environment by composting, recycling, conserving energy, and using reusable shopping bags. I will continue to volunteer and to donate to organizations that feed the hungry, address healthcare needs, provide micro-finance, assist women, and provide scholarships to students. The organizations I donate to as a monthly commitment include Unicef, Doctors Without Borders, St. Jude, Black Mammas Matter Alliance, World Food Program, FINCA, and Women for Women International. Others I give to in response to the ask include the Red Cross, The Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, World Central Kitchen, and various scholarship funds. My husband also donates to the American Cancer Society.

Anger takes a lot of energy. It must be channeled. I have my moments of ranting on social media and writing letters to lawmakers, but mostly I channel my energy by praying and loving others around me by being kind and being present with them. I take walks, crochet, and donating funds to those on the front lines. When there is a boycott or a peaceful protest, I’ll participate. Allowing my anger to fester and eat me up isn’t a healthy option. Left unchanneled, anger disrupts sleep and causes stress. I share what I’m doing to inspire my readers to find positive ways to channel their own angst and anger. If everyone contributes a little, the movement toward accountability and the end of this lawlessness will be faster.  

I’m still praying that 2026 will be a better year for our country. But I am also doing what I can to make that happen.

My husband and I began the year with a prayer that 2026 will be a far better year for our country than 2025. However, since the bombing of Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president and his wife and the admission that this is not about drugs, but about stealing Venezuelan oil and minerals, I decided that I need another week to contemplate my own resistant response to the corruption, cruelty and greed that confronts us. I hope you will do the same.

See you next week. And I’m still praying with the understanding that faith without works is dead. I just need to determine what the works should be this year. I’m praying for divine wisdom and courage.

I appreciate the time my readers spend analyzing my reflections on the world each week. I also value the time when I get to invest in family and friends, particularly during the holidays. So, I’m taking a break to be fully present with the people I love until the first Sunday in January 2026 this year. If you’re looking for something to read, please use this time to read or re-read one of my many past posts.