Fully Present Post 50

I’m not adverse to conflict. In fact, I enjoy a good debate on significant topics. My late brother and I often argued for the fun of it at family gatherings. Outside guests had to be told that our loud debate was not vitriolic, although the topic was always serious. Now a particular son-in-law fills the void my brother left after he passed away. However, I’m rarely the one to pick a fight. But admittedly, I rarely shy away from a fight worth having.

When I was a young woman, my mother taught me to pick my fights carefully. Some issues are simply worth letting go while others deserve my attention. I think about the consequences of allowing an issue to pass without serious input. I ask myself if the opinion being proffered should be allowed to linger and travel throughout society unchallenged. If the answer is no, then I’m going to engage. For example, I can’t pass up a vaccine debate. To the chagrin of some of my fellow educators, I won’t argue the merits of public over private schools. The most recent ongoing debates my son-in-law and I have are about the necessity of rules, laws and regulations. He views them as not only unnecessary, but actual impediments to his freedom and to a free market. I view them as necessary protections against exploitation and chaos.

Lately, our country has been embroiled in arguments over the role of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Most who argue against it seem to mischaracterize it altogether. They contend that the country has been handing over positions to women and people of color simply because they are women or people of color. That isn’t true. They don’t appreciate that DEI is simply about opening previously closed opportunities to women and people of color who are qualified for these positions.

Too many Americans fail to acknowledge that white men who previously secured these coveted positions, often got them based primarily on friendships, sponsorships, connections, and kinships despite their lack of actual qualifications. I’m convinced that having a black president was a huge wake- up call for many that the days of white male hegemony were coming to an end. Republicans soon realized that the DEI policies that allowed Barack Obama to thrive were a threat to their future finances, power, and status because these policies required them to compete with people who prepared hard to gain the education, expertise and experience that qualifies them for positions of influence. Years of entitlement made them lazy and complacent and unable to compete with the likes of Barack Obama, and they worried for those coming up behind him. It was worrisome to see that their mediocrity and connections were no longer enough to propel them forward in a country they claimed ownership of and where they saw themselves as the rightful rulers.

So, they picked a fight that I always knew was coming. The first blow was electing Donald Trump instead of Hillary Clinton, even though on every metric she was far more qualified than he was. Whenever I hear someone say that DEI went too far, I recognize that their argument is rooted in a mythology of white male supremacy that is subconsciously difficult for many people to abandon. DEI did not go too far. No one was hiring unqualified people to fly planes, become doctors, teachers, scientists, firemen, lawyers, or corporate executives. If anything, the people who were hired were beyond qualified for the position and had overcome extraordinary obstacles to rise to their positions. They had to overcome teachers who said girls shouldn’t and children of color can’t. They had to continually overcome stereotypes and prejudices by repeatedly proving their excellence. They were never given the benefit of the doubt like their white male peers. Through the years they developed resilience, defiance, and a very thick skin that drove them to dare to apply for positions that had been previously closed to them.

The fact that white Americans refuse to acknowledge the reality that women and people of color came to positions based on merit, and worse, continue to believe that they couldn’t possibly possess the merit in the first place is a disgusting legacy of the white supremacy this country was founded on. So, now, out of rebellion, the white backlash has returned us to that old system of cronyism where money, connections and loyalty secure positions of power and influence. An incompetent degenerate like Donald Trump is the president. We see a ridiculous person like Pete Hegseth running our military and an entire Cabinet of unqualified clowns making bad decisions and corrupting our rule of law. Their lack of education, experience, expertise, morality, and commonsense has brought us to the brink of disaster.

Without much foresight, this Administration picked a fight with our news media. They picked a fight with government workers. They picked a fight with our former allies. They picked a fight with immigrants. They picked a fight with women and minorities. They picked a fight with the environment. They picked a fight with the Constitution and the rule of law. They picked a fight with Iran. And now this President and several of his Cabinet members have picked a fight with the Pope. These are fights they cannot and should not win for the sake of the world. The good news is that people of conscious are fighting back in courts, on social media, and in the streets because they recognize, as I do, that some fights are worth having.

This week I am in Las Vegas for a rest from politics. I’m lending moral support to my daughter’s fertility journey. She purposefully spent her twenties and thirties concentrating on her career and building wealth. While she has no regrets and is proud of her many accomplishments, she and her husband only recently decided to have children. But it hasn’t been easy and at her advanced age, insurance won’t cover the cost. We have heartfelt conversations about the roller coaster of hope and disappointments that has been part of her nearly four-year quest to have a baby. I’m happy to be here for her even as the news this week presented yet another delay in her upcoming embryo transfer. I’m counting on the fervent prayers of a loving mother to make a difference.

Perhaps my daughter needed a distraction, but she decided to use my visit to redecorate the main level of her home here in Vegas. Utilizing my interior design certificate and experience, I decorated her first house and later this house 15 years ago. I decorated both her offices in Woodland Hills and New York. With my daughter’s conceptual direction, her substantial budget and her chauffeuring skills, I’ve been busy planning, coordinating, organizing, online and in store shopping, donating items, accepting deliveries, painting walls and spray-painting items, reupholstering, interviewing a new cleaning lady, cleaning, and more shopping. The downstairs is turning out beautifully; however, some furniture and area rugs won’t be delivered until I’m gone.

As a reward for my work, we are doing the full “Vegas foodie” experience, visiting the top viral eateries around the city for our meals. It’s been great fun. So far, my favorite has been Taco El Gordo. I think we’ll have to revisit that place again before I return home.

The crown jewel of the trip is the Bruno Mars concert at Allegiant Stadium last night. Attending one of his concerts has been on my bucket list for a very long time. My daughter and I went to great lengths and expense to secure tickets in the online Ticket Master battle with his many fans and with dynamic pricing. We paid too much for our great seats which included an exclusive lounge area (a pleasant surprise), but it was well worth it. Bruno was delightful and the staging was beautiful. I enjoyed every minute of his performance. My only complaints are that we had to stand up for too long cause folks just had to dance and sway as they sang along. And it was way too loud. Thankfully my daughter secured free ear plugs from an usher who had plenty of them handy. Every few minutes the noise alert on my iPhone watch went off to warn me of the potential damage I was doing to my hearing. In sum, the “Mr. Romantic” concert tour is well worth the price of admission and minor inconveniences.

I’ve allowed myself to be too busy this week to pay attention to the chaos that has enveloped our nation. I’m not quitting the fight, I am taking a mental rest to refresh, recover, and rejuvenate so that I can come back stronger and more determined to do my part to set our nation on a much better path. I’m following the advice of a line in one of my favorite poems by Edgar Albert Guest. It states: “rest if you must, but don’t you quit”.

Happy Easter or Resurrection Sunday! I pray all those pseudo-Christians like Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, remember that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, not the God of War; the One who commands us to love our neighbor, to pursue truth, to welcome the stranger, to care for the poor, sick and imprisoned, and to forgo wealth and earthly power in favor of everlasting life. Now on to the content of my post today.

This past Friday, I told my husband that I was convinced that an email he received from “Costco” was a scam. So, he didn’t open it, but while we were at Costco, he showed it to a representative at the customer service desk. The email invited him to click and win a Costco prize. The representative confirmed that it wasn’t from Costco and another woman in line quickly acknowledged that it was a scam and that she too had received that same email. I applauded him for not falling prey to it.

The fact is, there are so many more scams circulating than usual because this president pardons people convicted of major fraud while also gutting government protection agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). So many career employees and prosecutors have been fired or resigned under DOGE that criminals are having a field day. No one is protecting us.

In fact, our situation is becoming more precarious on multiple fronts. For example, the vast amount of quack medicine and fake remedies found on Instagram and Face Book reflects his appointment of snake oil salesman, Dr. Mehmet Oz to run Medicare and Medicaid and conspiracy theorist, Robert Kennedy, Jr. to the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services. In January 2026, this administration removed us from the World Health Organization, and they have defunded a lot of critical medical research and disabled the operations of the Center for Disease Control (CDC). And just as worrisome, the Big Beautiful Bill will result in approximately 16 million people losing healthcare coverage by 2034 according to the Congressional Budget Office (CDO).

Even the clean air and water we rely on is under attack with fewer career staff left in place to monitor environmental threats and with significant rollbacks in environmental regulations. Allowing companies to pollute our air and water in favor of financial gain doesn’t make long term sense. Don’t they realize that dead and dying customers can’t buy products? In addition, this administration is allowing AI data centers to deplete access to clean water and electricity while also contributing to noise pollution in unsuspecting poor communities around the country.

Most people are disheartened by the high cost of food and gasoline these days. First, the tariffs raised our prices and now Trump’s senseless war in Iran has raised the cost of gasoline, airline flights, shipping costs, and basic goods. Almost 20% of our fertilizer has to travel through the Strait of Hormuz, so this will create a shortage of fertilizer that farmers rely on. We are going to experience even higher food costs as farmers plant fewer crops.

It’s disheartening to consider, too, the job losses being threatened by AI. No one in our government is having a serious conversation about what to do about the millions of people whose lives that will be disrupted by job losses to AI robots and AI agents. Just recently, Melania Trump walked onto stage with a robot by her side to sell the idea of robot teachers in every classroom as a step forward in education. Replacing humans with robots without finding a meaningful role for humans is a disaster in the making. And who among us wants our children to be taught by a robot?

And finally, Americans are being bombarded with lies, AI slop, revisionist history, and so much misinformation that it is becoming increasingly difficult to know what and whom to believe. My husband discovered that one of his favorite new singers wasn’t even a real person, but an AI character. The reality is that we could never trust anything coming from Trump’s mouth, but now our corporate media are complicit either echoing his lies or remaining silent about the truth for fear of retribution. The state takeover of news is upon us, making us no different from Russia, North Korea or China.

In my opinion, we are quickly heading towards a failed state. Before our eyes, this government is losing its ability to effectively govern, protect us, and provide basic services to us. In fact, Trump just admitted that his only priority for the federal government is funding the military. He is completely neglecting the other two roles given to the federal government by the Constitution beyond providing for the common defense. It is tasked with promoting the general welfare and ensuring the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. Instead, he wants to recruit our young people to be the might behind his bullying.

If we do not stop him, we will not only become a poor and sickly nation, but an isolated one. We will devolve into a country like North Korea where the people are hungry, sick, silenced, and lack information and an innovative spirit. Before our eyes, the things that made the United States prosperous are quickly being stripped away. Our diversity has been the key to our innovation. Instead of welcoming the best brains and hardest workers, we are deporting them or denying them entry. Our freedom to speak, to innovate, to pursue education, to love whom we want, to be who we are, to make decisions about our health, and even our freedom to worship are being challenged. We are no longer investing in the health and education of our population, but instead the very wealthy are pocketing our tax-payer dollars for self-gratifying pet projects.

It’s a sign of decay when those in positions of power were promoted not based on merit, but based whiteness, maleness and loyalty to a thug. Just look at the military under Pete Hegseth. He just fired experienced generals. He removed more than a dozen women and black men from a military promotion list based solely on their race and gender. He also announced that there would only be a protestant Good Friday Easter Service for the military. Such blatant displays of discrimination against women, people of color and now Catholics, portends the coming failure of our nation if we do nothing. Competence, expertise, and experience in leadership roles matter. When those are absent, bad decisions are inevitable.

However, we do not have to sit by helplessly as our country slides into failure. Now is the time to protest, to support more lawsuits, to pressure our representatives, to cast our votes, and to loudly demand that our Constitution and the rule of law be restored. We can take it as a sign of our resolve that Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem were fired but notice that he replaced them with white male loyalist who are equally unqualified. We must remind ourselves that our tax dollars are paying for every cruel and reckless decision. Perhaps states can begin to withhold the dollars they send to the federal government in collective protest while also providing the healthcare, education, and social safety net we need.

The reality is that if we do nothing, we will no longer be a nation dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal and endowed by the creator with a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Without a fight, this country will join the list of failed states where it is every man for himself. My prayer is that the current fight for our nation remains peaceful.

On this Easter Sunday, may the Prince of Peace guard, strengthen and give us the wisdom to pursue and obtain transformation by peaceful means.

Some destructive behaviors are difficult to stop because we are addicted to them. We gravitate to that dopamine hit that promises to make us feel good. In the moment, these behaviors satisfy an intense craving and so we engage even though we are fully aware that we are doing damage to our body, the environment, or the lives of others. Personally, when I am bored, I consume way too much sugar and eat way too many potato chips. These things make me fat and lethargic. I am far less productive when I am tired and unmotivated. Others consume too much fast food or spend way too much time scrolling on their phones. And then there are those who spend hours playing video games or watching way too much television. There are those who smoke cigarettes, drink too much, or take mind-altering drugs to escape their uncomfortable emotional or mental state. It’s no surprise that experts are now warning us that anxiety is a huge and growing problem these days.

These destructive behaviors physically and mentally weaken our resolve while also distracting us from fighting for what matters in our society: our collective well-being and the environment. I doubt that these destructive distractions were created specifically to distract us. I believe they were each created simply to make some people rich. Our distracted or medicated state is allowing a few greedy opportunistic leaders to amass unfathomable wealth and power to feed their egos and further line their pockets. According to one of Trump’s sons, their goal is to make the Trump family the richest in the world. As long as we’re in a distracted state, he will continue stealing our tax dollars, harming innocent lives, and slapping his name and image on practically everything. Even our currency will soon bear his signature.

What scares me most is that the need for greater and more distractions is about to multiply as AI causes jobs to disappear and as people grow increasingly anxious about war, the economy, and our corrupt government. The future is looking dimmer by the day for those who must face the decades ahead or care about family members who will.

When I listen to technology experts, I hear two different scenarios playing out. On the one hand, AI will free us from having to work, think, and strive for anything worth having as though this is a good thing. They call it “abundance”. On the other hand, I hear that AI has the potential to literally destroy civilization as it takes control of everything and cannot be reigned it. We already know that AI is self-preserving and is willing to lie, blackmail or otherwise manipulate the “watchers” to continue to operate. On its own, AI has labeled humans as “watchers” and it has learned to give fake answers to pass tests designed to understand its motives and true compliance.

In our race against China, Trump has determined not to regulate AI at all. However, China has turned off AI access to students during exam periods and limits child access to social media to specific hours of the day. We’ve none nothing significant to protect or incentivize or enhance the education of our children. In fact, we have done the opposite by allowing AI to do our kids homework, banning books, revising history, demonizing teachers and scholars, and dismantling the Department of Education. Our kids can’t distinguish between the truth and a lie, what is real or fake, and what is morally good or bad. Sadly, many adults can’t either. The lines have been blurred on purpose, making confusion a weapon against us.

We are in a fight for the future of civilization. However, we cannot fight or even recognize that we should be fighting if we are distracted, lethargic, hopeless, high on drugs or confused. The wealthy tech guys, the greedy egomaniacs, and the white Christian nationalists are banking that the American public is distracted and confused enough to be unwilling and unable to put up a fight to protect and defend our Constitution, the rule of law, the use of our tax dollars, the environment, human decency, freedom, and justice for all. They know that distracted and confused warriors are completely ineffective.

It’s time to put the destructive distractions aside and find clarity so we can more fully join the fight to create the society and future our children deserve. We need to end the government corruption, the lawlessness, the senseless wars, and fight for the environment, affordable healthcare, human and civil rights, gun regulations, better infrastructure, AI regulation, social welfare policies, adequate education, and an equitable tax system.

It begins with protests, like yesterday’s huge “No Kings Protest”. It continues with commentary, conversations, phone calls, letters, pieces of art, music, skits, social media posts, lawsuits, and the funding of civil rights efforts. It culminates with voting for representatives who will fight for what is right. If all this fails, then history reminds us that the collective violent power of the people is ultimately more powerful than the few people in power. And the end of them is never peaceful nor pretty.

The best solution for anxiety is to take positive action, not further engagement in destructive distractions which do nothing to solve the root causes of the anxiety. It’s time to shed our addictions to the things that hinder our ability to give a hundred percent of our effort to learning the truth and saving our future. That means I’m going to drastically cut down on sugar and potato chips to become a far more effective warrior.

The government has a record of our birth. They know who was born in this country. They know when. And they know where. It is the responsibility of the hospital or midwife to report births. They know who has gained citizenship through the naturalization process. They know this information so well that they are planning to automatically register our sons for the draft. They know when we get married because we have to obtain a marriage license to do so. They know when we change our names because we are required to tell them. They know when we die because others are required to inform them. So, why are Republicans trying to force every one of us to proffer proof of our citizenship to vote instead of automatically registering every U.S. citizenship to vote upon turning 18 years of age?

Republicans are doing this because they understand that their policies are unpopular and that their corruption is so egregious that the vast majority of citizens no longer want them in power. So, while they are in power, they are determined to rig the voting system to hold on to it. That is what the “Save America Act” is about. It’s not about saving America through safe and secure elections, it is about maintaining Republican power over America and transforming it into a fascist authoritarian government under white Christian nationalist control.

One seemingly acceptable way to do this is to require everyone to present “voter ID” to register to vote. On the surface that sounds reasonable. Never mind that it is already illegal for a non-citizen to vote and almost none have voted. The very few who have tried were easily identified. This isn’t a problem that requires fixing. So, since they know who we are, why isn’t our driver’s license, military ID or school ID enough to cross check with government citizenship records? Why must we prove what they already know? Republicans want us to prove we have the right to vote because they know this request presents many people with difficult and expensive hurdles to overcome. It is a form of voter suppression.

First of all, not everyone has their birth certificate handy. In fact, for anyone who has changed their name since birth through marriage, adoption, or for any other reason, they will also have to present a U.S. passport. Getting that passport costs about $165 plus professional pictures and documents and takes about eight weeks of processing time under normal conditions. Roughly half the country currently holds a valid U.S. passport. Imagine the backlog in the face of a greatly reduced workforce since DOGE fired many government workers. But even worse for many Americans is that the State Department under Marco Rubio is in charge of processing these requests. It is easy for him to rig the processing to slow walk applications from people living in blue counties and from registered democrats. I would not put it past this Rubio State Department since it has been revealed that they are stealing millions from hopeful visa applicants by taking their non-refundable application fees with no intention of approving their visas.

Another hurdle that they are determined to enforce are requirements to register in person. This places an undue burden on the elderly, the disabled, the sick, the traveler, and working people. They are trying also to eliminate voting by mail with only a few exceptions. Voting by mail has proven to increase voter participation and to be a secure method. Right now the Supreme Court is deciding if mail-in ballots cast prior to the deadline but arriving late because of the post office delay should be counted. The mail-in voting system isn’t broke and doesn’t need fixing unless you want to suppress the vote. We already know that Republicans in charge of state elections brought this current lawsuit and that they already limit voter turnout in urban areas by limiting or eliminating ballot drop boxes or polling places causing extremely long distances to polling placing and long lines that they know are prohibitive. Imagine the long distances and long lines when one has to register to vote? And then a second time when it is time to vote? It’s crystal clear that compelling someone to drive a long way and to wait nine, ten or eleven hours to cast a ballot while simultaneously denying others to provide them water or any form of sustenance during that wait is a form of voter suppression.

It is not surprising that Trump is thinking of planting federal ICE agents at polling placing as a form of intimidation. ICE has shown that they are willing to detain black and brown people under the suspicion that they might be here illegally, ignoring their documentation. How many people will be ripped out of voting lines or deterred from even trying to vote under these circumstances?

In addition to creating unnecessary voting hurdles and scaring people away from the polls, I’m concerned about who will be counting the ballots and certifying the results. Republicans know that they can only win by cheating and they have shown that they are willing to do it while accusing the other side of rigging elections. Their accusations always turn out to be confessions. In fact, the small amount of voter fraud has been discovered has nearly always turned out to be Republican actors.

We must fight against the passing of the SAVE America Act by contacting senators and letting them know that we are 100% against it. Should it pass, we must make sure we secure our passports and birth certificates right away. I’ve heard that women are considering reverting to their maiden names to match their birth certificates. That will save the time and cost of securing a passport. Moving forward, young women will certainly be reluctant to take on their husband’s name after marriage. I’m certain lawsuits will be filed immediately to stop this law from going into effect, and we have a civic duty to financially and morally support the civil rights organizations acting on our behalf to stop it. Some of these organizations include the League of Women Voters, ACLU, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Democracy Forward, Brennan Center for Justice and the National Urban League.

And finally, should their voter suppression efforts successfully prevent us from retaking control of our government from those who have shown themselves to be lawless liars who ignore the Constitution, rob us of our civil and human rights, destroy our economy, and lead us into illegal wars, and now present us with taxation without representation by denying us the right to vote, then revolution is our final option just as it was 250 ago.

Decent parents spend time teaching their children how to obey basic social norms that make living together in a family and by extension, a community, bearable for everyone. In a civil society, parents are expected to instill behaviors like truthfulness, fair play, and consideration in their youngsters. It doesn’t happen on its own and when neglected, eyebrows are raised and tongues wag about the ill-mannered kid that no one wants to be around. We are sure that such children will likely end up is prison.

If we are honest with ourselves, we know that the beautiful innocent bundle of joy we bring home from the hospital is naturally selfish, self-centered, and self-preserving. The newborn’s survival instincts lead her to do whatever it takes to get what she wants and to avoid pain and suffering. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that crying isn’t the only manipulation tool she has in her toolbox. To avoid unpleasant consequences, a toddler automatically lies about the missing cookie that he secretly swiped and quickly ate when a parent wasn’t looking. That same toddler may violently hit a playmate over the head to take a toy he wants to play with. It is up to parents to correct such impulses. Every parent knows that convincing a child to share takes real effort. The words, “please” and “thank you” and “excuse me” and “I’m sorry”, must be taught. We are fortunate that most young children naturally covet affirmation, making these lessons possible.

Instilling values like honesty, integrity, gratefulness and generosity takes a concerted effort from the entire community that surrounds each child. Teachers, neighbors and extended family members reinforce these values in everyday interactions. Our approval and disapproval of their behaviors help to shape them. Religious teachings, no matter the faith tradition, all teach these basic values. In general, we are socialized through our interactions and role models to value and rely on the truthfulness, generosity, kindness, and consideration of others. It’s because our individual and common welfare depend on it. We are not islands unto ourselves; we need each other to survive and thrive in a world filled with natural and manmade disasters.

For most of my life, our society severely punished those who stepped outside the boundaries of these social norms. Politicians who were caught lying to the public were publicly humiliated and left the public stage in shame. Businessmen who defrauded others were prosecuted and imprisoned. Doctors who caused harm, lost their license to practice medicine. Rapist and thieves were prosecuted and imprisoned. Public sentiment did not tolerate public cruelty and insults. We expressed how appalled and disgusted we were by anyone who behaved in such a manner, curbing such behavior.

Most of us continue to cling to these basic social values that have served us so well. That’s why most social commentators thought Trump would be summarily disqualified when he bragged about sexually assaulting women on an open mic or when he lied about many things or when he insulted his opponents or when he was exposed as a business cheat, an adulterer, and a draft dodger. But he wasn’t. Enough people set our common values aside to support Trump. They liked his charisma and how he bucked social norms, thinking he was strong enough to free them from these shackles as well. Hillary was right when she called his supporters, “deplorables” and ironically, she was punished for saying it because the majority of us still expected polite behavior from public figures, especially those who wanted to lead us. Michele Obama’s words continue to ring in my ears: “We they go low, we go high.”

However, we should all be worried that those in government leadership today are no longer setting a good example for our children. Children need to see that the behaviors and values parents instill in them are rewarded outside the walls of their home. Trump and his MAGA supporters are showing them the opposite. He is demonstrating that truthfulness doesn’t matter, and that leaving everyone confused and guessing suits his agenda better. He is demonstrating that insults and bullying are a good way silence detractors or to bend people to his will. He is demonstrating that cruelty and brutality is a strategy to cause fear that controls others. He is the school yard bully who laughs as he steals a weaker child’s lunch money with impunity.

Trump has tried to break the social contract we have with each other. His constant lying, bullying, and cheating has led the world to financial instability, a fear of being invaded, and now a war. His promotion of others who share his lack of consideration and generosity has led to the deaths of thousands of people who relied on USAID for food and medicine. His promotion of liars and conspiracy theorists and inexperienced cabinet members have led to confusion about vaccines and a resurgence of measles and a dangerous roll back of environmental protections. America and the world are suffering under his anti-social leadership and lack of the moral values we depend on. We all know that a bully must be brought down and I’m certain he will. Chaos and terrorism, if not outright revolution are knocking at our door.

I’m grateful that the majority of Americans are not fooled by him and that they are not abandoning the basic values that serve us. We have to look harder to find the truth, but we still demand it. We are still considerate of each other. We remain generous with our time and money when it comes to the needy. We continue to value fair play even when those in power do not. And we are fighting every day in the streets, in social media posts, in artwork, in public statements, and in the courts to preserve the values that have made our society bearable.

When the Epstein files revealed that some rich and powerful men had been breaking social norms with regard to sex with children, we collectively decided to punish them. Trump tried unsuccessfully to distant himself from those files, but he is in them a lot and his sins have found him out. Whether Epstein died by suicide or was murdered, the truth of what happened is finding its way around the world and no manufactured war in Iran will save Trump from the consequences of breaking this social contract. Young children are off limits!

My hope is that those who have violated our collective need for truth, fairness, consideration, and integrity will be duly punished this time around if we win the midterm elections and gain a majority in the House and Senate. This will be the preferrable way to take him down and hold him accountable. The alternative will not be so nice.

We should know that Trump will attempt to cheat, lie, steal and even use troops to stop this from happening. He will do everything he can to prevent the majority of us from voting, especially women and minorities. Let’s not let him. Our social contract demands that fraud, lying, cheating, and cruelty be punished. And Trump can no longer be an exception.

My heart goes out to the families of the young men and women in the armed services today. My prayers go up for the safety of our young soldiers who were just thrust into an illegal war and harm’s way at the order of a lunatic president. And my upmost sorrow and sympathy reach out to the families of our lost soldiers and the 150+ schoolgirls and staff who lost their lives as a result of our missile strike on their school. War is hell. And this war is the result of the untethered ego of Trump and Netanyahu to protect their personal interests. So how did we get here?

It took me a while, but I just finished reading Kamala Harris’ book, “107 Days” which details her campaign for president. Like Kamala and those around her, I really thought she was going to win. She was more qualified, more likable, more articulate, more decent, more educated, less selfish, and actually had a vision for the nation that would improve our economy, expand educational opportunities and healthcare, protect the environment, and stabilize our international relationships. Like everyone who fought hard for her, I was not only distraught that Americans “seemingly” decided Trump was a better choice, but I was genuinely scared for the wellbeing of our nation.

Trump had shown us that he could not be trusted and that he lacked morals, was a cruel bully, was indecent, made lying and fraud his way of life, and was essentially lawless, ignoring the Constitution. He was a convicted felon who would have been behind bars had senate Republicans convicted him and Attorney General Merrick Garland not sat on his hands for too long. All the evidence of his wrongdoing was there and yet these men in high places failed to hold one of their own accountable. And with a cowardly Republican majority, there was no mechanism to enact Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment that clearly disqualifies an insurrectionist from holding elected office. Even the Supreme Court wouldn’t allow individual states to keep him off their ballot in line with the Constitution. They decided that Congress had to do it, ignoring the reality that Congress had been usurped by a violent MAGA cult. And other Republicans refused, deciding they preferred power over country.

That left the decision to the American people and we failed. Trump won this election by only 1.5% of the vote, a very narrow win. I continue to take solace (like Kamala Harris) in the fact that two-thirds of the voting citizenry did not vote for him. However, it is the third that neglected to vote that I blame the most for putting us in this situation. I believe more Americans are decent and somewhat reasonable than are the complete degenerates or gullible folks who voted for Trump. Elections have consequences and I’m hopeful that those who now understand that their vote matters will vote this November. That said, Trump started this war in Iran (without Congressional approval), breaking yet another of his promises to his base. And for what? I really don’t know because his administration keeps changing the reasons and have been unable to deliver a coherent rationale for why they started a war with Iran.

In fact, they are so ridiculous that they are now saying that Iran started the war when they took U.S. hostages some 47 years ago in 1979. They never go further back to the fact that our CIA helped Britain overthrow Iran’s democratically elected prime minister in 1953 and returned that puppet monarch, The Shah of Iran, to power to restore outside control and profits from Iran’s oil. The Shah’s brutal authoritarian rule backed by Western powers led to the 1979 Revolution where the Shah was removed and a new government, the “Islamic Republic” was established where religious authoritarianism, hostile to Western culture, took over has been harsh for many Iranian people. Of course they blame us. Iran has been angry at us for good reason. We have meddled in and destabilized their country and did a world of damage to them. We have tried to sanction them into economic ruin. And once again, we claim to be the righteous victims who have no idea why we have enemies. They say Iran can’t have nuclear bombs because they will be a threat to the world. But aren’t we and Russian and China and every other nation that has nuclear weapons a threat to them and to the world? The problem is that we are afraid Iran will take vengeance on the nations that exploited their oil, ruined their economy with sanctions and meddled in their political affairs since 1953. Let’s not forget that Trump tore up the nuclear agreement Obama had with Iran simply because it was Obama’s agreement.

This war is a short-sighted distraction. There was no immediate threat to our homeland. The Iranians are nowhere near gaining a nuclear weapon. The haste of this war reveals the incompetence and lack of planning in its execution. Americans being stuck as bombs fall around them is what happens when you gut the State Department and rush into war. It’s no coincidence that Trump is further implicated in the Epstein files and that he wants us worried about Iran and not paying attention to his sexual crimes against young girls. We already knew he was a creepy sexual predator, but crimes against young girls might prove to be a bridge too far for his MAGA base. In large part, I believe that is what this war is about.

I pray that the war ends quickly. I pray that our troops and innocent lives are safe. I also pray that every eligible voter shows up for the midterms and votes those cowardly Republicans out of office at every level of government. A gift for our 250th anniversary would be to chart our nation on a course for greater freedom, greater democracy, and stronger institutions to safeguard against an authoritarian leader like Donald J. Trump. A man like Trump is the exact reason our nation was established in the first place.

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”.