Author: tonihall805@outlook.com

Of course, the Rapture didn’t happen last Wednesday. Since childhood, I’ve lived through multiple predictions and have never been disappointed because Jesus made it clear that no one knows the day or the hour when He will appear. And yet, folks keep on naming a specific day. The term Rapture doesn’t even appear in the Bible and I’m not even certain it’s an event to actually anticipate in the manner so many preachers and movies represent to us. But I continue to keep the faith that one day the wrong on this earth will be turned right.

These are certainly dark times. Hate and bigotry have resurfaced in full force through the leadership Donald Trump and others like him. Every day, we face the kind of evil brutality not seen since the 1930s. A few people like it. But I’ve noticed that decent people around me are seething under the surface over the cruelty, corruption, lawlessness, and incompetence poisoning our country every day. I’m sure the generals who gathered this past week weren’t happy either. I just pray that they will be courageous enough to honor their oath to protect and defend our Constitution against the domestic enemies occupying our White House.

In the midst of all this chaos, I am determined to keep the faith. I have faith that God is not mocked and that people will reap what they sow. I have faith that those who call evil good and good evil will meet a terrible end. I have faith that those who live by the sword will die by it. I have faith that no weapon formed against those who do good will prosper. And I have faith that good will ultimately overcome evil. It may take a while and it may require a struggle, but I believe that there are more of us who stand on the side of good and of justice than there are of them who embrace hate and destruction. I have faith that the sleeping giants of decency, empathy, kindness, and justice within most people will rise from their slumber or busy lives and join forces against the violence, nastiness, and inhumanity trying to overtake us.

In a way, I’m grateful for these ugly days. The daily speeches and cruel events reveal the character of people around us. We now know that there is a segment of our society who rejoice in the suffering of others. We now know who the vile and violent people are. We now know that there are people in high places willing to lie, cheat and steal to gain power and riches. We now know who the cowards are in our universities, businesses and politics. We now know for certain that white supremacy, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia remain as forces of hate to be reckoned with. But we also know that there are plenty of decent human beings who care about the plight and suffering of others enough to take action.

What is most important is that these times force us to look in the mirror. The evil folks will not recognize themselves as evil because they are deceived and consumed by hatred and scapegoating. However, the rest of us are being forced to see ourselves as either cowardly or courageous. In my book, the silent bystander is a coward. But the street protestor, the letter writer, the prayer warrior, the cartoonist, the actors in protest skits, the singer/songwriters, the podcasters, the comedians, the defense attorneys and prosecutors, the righteous judges, the teachers, the healthcare advocates, the social media activists, the righteous clergy, the donors and workers in civil rights organizations, the people who resign in protest, and the thoughtful voters are all courageous. I have faith in the God who fuels the determination of decent people and inspires their many courageous and creative acts of defiance. I have faith that those on the side of goodness and justice will fight and win against the evil that is trying to overtake us.

When I look in the mirror, I must see a fighter for goodness and justice if I am to have peace within my soul. I have faith in the God who gives me strength and guides my steps, not that I will be safe, but that I am doing what is right. I have to know that I have fought the good fight on behalf of those I love. Because I choose to be courageous every day, I can smile at my reflection in the mirror and have confidence that the loving God of good and justice is smiling down on me too.

This country is in the midst of a pre-meditated man-made storm intended to undermine the Constitution and the rule of law, destroy the economy, isolate the country, remove safety nets, confuse scientific facts and fiction, and dismantle civil rights. Creating chaos and instability with every firing, tweet, speech, ICE arrest, tariff, corporate shake down, international threat, prosecution of political enemies, and executive order is meant to drive resistant American citizens to the edge of insanity and to political violence in the streets. By design, as soon as any sign of violence ensues, Trump has called in the National Guard and the U.S. Military to get us accustomed to the idea of force under authoritarian rule. And now he has begun to label opposing groups, like Antifa (literally means – anti-fascism), as terrorist organizations.

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that the Democrats, the Courts, and even corporate leaders are not going to save us. We are going to have to save ourselves. I think the path toward saving this country is different for white people and people of color. Given the root of the problem, white people must be the ones who take to the streets in protest and who confront white “Christian” nationalism head on. The conflict resides within their families, friends, associates, neighbors, churches, and elected officials. They need to decide what kind of country we will be since they continue to hold the bulk of the wealth and influence over corporate and political decision making. Their uproar when Jimmy Kimmel was suspended by presidential edict ultimately forced Disney to relent and put him back on the air.

I believe we are observing a country in the midst of a battle to either defend or eradicate white supremacy along with its crimes against humanity. People in the Trump administration like Steven Miller, Russell Vought, and Tom Holman are working vigorously to reestablish white male supremacy throughout the country. They are working in concert with Republicans like the House Leader, Mike Johnson and the majority on the Supreme Court. You know we are headed for dark times when the Supreme Court authorizes indiscriminate firings, racial profiling, presidential immunity for criminal acts, and presidential defunding of Congressional appropriations. Republicans who know this is fundamentally wrong are too cowardly to openly oppose them and corporate leaders are too concerned with the disruption of their operations and profits to openly challenge them. Are there enough decent and sufficiently courageous white people to fight this battle? I honestly don’t know.

What I do know is that white suprematists are emboldened and increasingly willing to act on their worse instincts. Their words are disgusting, their marches are appalling, their jobs in law enforcement and ICE make their “sanctioned” violence even more disturbing. Who would have thought that we would see two young black young men hanging from trees in 2025? Anyone who thinks this administration is on the side of all Americans, particularly people of color, feminists, religious minorities, and LGBTQ folks is delusional.

What I do know is that targeted citizens need to work fast to build an arc of safety against the storm. I have ten recommendations; 1) Be extra careful to stay out of harm’s way by avoiding confrontation with straight white people; 2) Get information from reliable sources (not this government nor corporate media because they are now required to lie, withhold information, exaggerate, and gaslight); 3) Prepare to move out of poor red states for safety, freedoms, and opportunities; 4) Have your passport ready because it may become necessary to flee the country; 5) Listen to and follow the advice of actual scientists and medical doctors; 6) Save and invest a much greater percentage of your income; 7) Support minority owned businesses instead of corporate businesses; 8) Invest time, money, and energy in the righteous causes that defend us; 9) Make education and skills training a priority, supporting our own schools or homeschooling; and 10) Closely monitor the activities of our sons and daughters to insure they aren’t in the crosshairs of a criminal justice system that will be even more determined to imprison them.

There is a Proverb that says, “A wise man sees trouble and hides himself.” It’s time to prepare an arc against the coming storm. The time has come that we must become each other’s social safety net. As the dark forces try to paint us as public enemies, we’re going to need to shine a bright spotlight on our humanity, our contributions, our excellence, our talents, and our competency at every opportunity to protect our children’s self-esteem and to win more white people to our side. And above all else, we are going to need to support our courageous white allies, each other, and exercise our right to vote for as long as possible.

I grew up with two older brothers. The younger of the two was bigger and stronger. On occasions when the younger lost “the war of wits” to our older brother, he resorted to the rules of engagement to start a physical fight. The rule was that you could never start a physical fight, but you could hit back if someone hit you first. So, my younger brother would move excessively close to the eldest so that the slightest move that ultimately resulted in a touch would be used as the provocation he needed to punch our older brother. He once tried that tactic on me but was soon reminded that boys are never allowed to hit girls under any circumstances. Later he broke that rule. I was eleven and he was twelve when I beat him in a basketball shooting contest called “Around the World”. His ego was so bruised that in his rage he physically attacked me. Yes, I was happy about my victory, but no, I was not gloating about it. So, I was shocked by his reaction. Not only did he get in big trouble, but I never played that game with him again. In fact, I kept my distance for a while because I viewed him as both irrational and explosive. In his twenties he was diagnosed with a mood disorder. My brother’s behavior taught me a valuable lesson about how some people take a scorched earth approach to protect their ego, resolve conflict, eliminate competition or exert their will.

Donald Trump behaves like my younger brother once did. In 2016, we saw how quickly he evoked public insults, baseless accusations and embarrassing nicknames to exploit the insecurities of his competitors, forcing them to drop out of the presidential race. His scorched earth approach made him appear strong to a segment of the country who wanted to burn down a system that challenged the cultural, economic, and political domination of white “Christian” people. But he was repulsive to the rest of us who valued our diversity and the country’s movement toward fairness. We abhorred his indecent tactics and five million more of us voted for Hillary Clinton, but the electoral college gave Trump the presidency.

Exposed but unchallenged, his bullying continued to ravage the will of Republican lawmakers using public ridicule and threats of being primaried if they didn’t bend to his will. That gave him three seats on the Supreme Court and a good number of federal judges. That kept him from being removed from office twice after being twice impeached for his criminal behavior. Like my brother in childhood, his power of persuasion was never based on the merits of his argument, but on the threat of brutality. And he attracted a lot of people who lack a good argument, but love the 2nd Amendment and are willing to behave just like him.

As we’ve all seen, his propensity to tell big lies and to use threats to enforce his will has only ramped up since our Republican lead Senate and our own judicial system failed to hold him accountable for not only causing a violent attack on the Capital to stop the certification of the 2020 election, but for watching it happen without acting to stop it for hours. There was no shortage of enablers (including former attorney general Merrick Garland), a corrupt Supreme Court who ignored the disqualification clause in the Constitution and then granted him presidential immunity. Then there are the complicit MAGA loyalists who endorse the bullshit, the incompetence, and the bad policies. Perhaps worse is an apathetic electorate who don’t bother to vote. Working in concert, they encouraged and empowered the dangerous monster we are now dealing with.

It is evident to me that Donald Trump, his handpicked cabinet members, MAGA loyalists, and his newly minted ICE agents are itching for a fight. They can’t logically defend the long list of their unconstitutional, lawless, shortsighted, cruel, harmful and incompetent actions. It appears that breaking things and cruelty is the point. They began this term by firing government workers without cause. They shuttered agencies that provided food and medicine to poor nations, destroying loyalty and goodwill. They cut funding for scientific and medical research. They removed environmental protections, threatened the sovereignty of Canada, Iceland, Panama, and now Venezuela. They destroyed confidence in our public health system, gave tax breaks to the wealthy, rolled back the public safety net, attacked our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in a multicultural nation, and started a worldwide tariff war. With the blessing of the Supreme Court, they continue to kidnap brown people off the streets. They use mere allegations to deport non-criminals to prisons abroad without due process. They use the justice department and the FBI to seek revenge against anyone who tried to hold Trump accountable for his criminal activities. They bully businesses and universities into acting against their will, threaten judges, and shake down businesses. They force networks to contribute money or to fire journalists and late-night comedians by using the FCC to withhold approval of business mergers.

Their behavior and their policies are wildly unpopular because they are unlawful, corrupt, shortsighted and often criminal. Trump is known to exaggerate claims and to fabricate lies to justify his actions. Like how he characterizes Mexican immigrants as rapists, murderers, drug dealers or insane. Like accusing Haitian immigrants of eating people’s pets. Like the time a few protestors in downtown Los Angeles set fire to three driverless vehicles and he said the entire city of Los Angeles required the National Guard and the military to reign in the violence. He regularly publicizes unsubstantiated allegations to punish his perceived enemies. He just used our military on two separate occasions to kill people in fishing boats off the coast of Venezuela, claiming without evidence that they were heading to the U.S. with illegal drugs.

All this matters because innocent lives are lost or threatened by his reckless disregard for the truth, his greed, his need for admiration, his need for revenge against anyone who tries to hold him accountable, and his determination to remove anyone who thinks differently from him. His behavior is blatantly criminal and abhorrent, and his policies are so unpopular that he must appease white “Christian” nationalists who want to usher in a Taliban-like theocracy run by white males. Theirs is a marriage of convenience that can’t last because Trump is not a Christian by their own standards (and neither are they by Jesus’ standards). The white “Christian” nationalists are using Trump to destroy the country and break the will of the American people so that they can rebuild it to their liking. Project 2025 was their playbook and because it was unpopular, Trump publicly disavowed it to get elected. Even though lying is what he does, many were still fooled into believing he wasn’t going to follow it. But he is.

Like an unhinged and shortsighted child, Trump wants the entire world to endorse his madness as brilliance and to obey in advance or face his brutality. Let’s refuse. He fakes ignorance of the sneers for smiles, the boos for cheers, and the silence for agreement. He’s aware that forced compliments aren’t actual admiration. The problem is that he is petty and that he enjoys watching haters being forced into submission. The whispers of disgust behind his back and the desire to be rid of him as soon as possible only fuel his resolve for retribution. Like other autocrats before him, his behavior destroys trust, actual loyalty, and undermines the strength of the nation. He simply creates more haters.

Our resistance to Trump must be unified and beyond his reach. Corporations are running scared of him when they should be running scared of us. Target and now Disney are learning this. We are the ones who buy corporate products and keep them in business. The brightest brains are simply leaving the country or no longer coming to our universities. Innovation and productivity come from the people. Blue states are setting up their own public health care systems. Ultimately, we are the ones who fuel this economy. It’s pretty clear that his supporters are not the smartest people, though a few are the richest. I’m convinced that collectively, we can out-think, out vote, and withhold our spending in ways that shape future decision-making.

As Trump extends his takeover of corporate media outlets, what if we simply stop watching corporate media? I already stopped getting my news from them. When he plugs and silences one media outlet, we like a stream of water forge a new path. Our resistance must be loud, clear, and ubiquitous. We can no longer sit on the sidelines. Yes, the trolling and truth telling using creative media, songs, speeches, sermons, skits, cartoons, artwork, and independent podcasts and independent news outlets must continue to grow and spread. I’m fond of sharing creative content to help reach a broader audience. It’s the least I can do.

In addition to online content, boycott participation must spread, and the peaceful street protests must continue largely without black folks because our presence alone will be provocation for state violence. Trump and the white “Christian” nationalists who support him need to see lots and lots of white people. Only then will they truly understand that they are not the majority and that their views are unpopular. Make it shameful and embarrassing to be MAGA without confronting them directly. Simply ignore them.

The lawsuits must also continue, and we must financially support the organizations and law firms behind them like Democracy Forward, the ACLU, the NAACP Legal Defense. We must use our voices, our talents, and our pocketbooks to defend our country against the white “Christian” nationalist and the childish bully who have joined hands against us. I suggest taking the funds from cancelling Disney Plus or from that Starbucks coffee and applying them to the legal defense of our civil rights and our democracy.

In these perilous times, cowardice, apathy, and silence are not an option. We must be smart and unified in our resistance as we support all the various efforts to defend what is Constitutional, what is lawful, what is decent, and what is good for our nation. We must not engage in the violent fight they are itching for. Instead, we must continue to force the bully to react by publicly disagreeing and loudly exposing his nonsense. As he retaliates by breaking more laws, contradicting the Constitution, showing his indecency, and evoking brutality, his desperate actions will inevitably turn enough people against him to overthrow him and his white “Christian” nationalist allies.

I take hope in the reminder that there are more of us on the side of decency and goodwill than there are on the side of destruction and violence. And don’t forget that we are also smarter and more creative. May our resolve get stronger by the day.

Lately I feel like I’m living in an episode of the “Twilight Zone” or the Netflix series, “Black Mirror”. The television news is filled with dreadful stories; social media has unbelievable claims and ridiculous debates with ignorant people; and my everyday conversations are spent lamenting or debunking nonsense. This is what happens when delusional thinking takes hold of enough people to elect leaders who not only prorogate the delusions but demand their prominence and acceptance and worse, make decisions based on them.

The saddest part is that these delusions feed uneducated insecure people with visions of prosperity and white grandeur while simultaneously causing real life hardships to themselves and many others. The advocators of these delusions expect reasonable people to suspend their reliance on what their eyes, pocketbooks, and scientific evidence tells them. At the same time, they are pushing the masses to reject learned values like empathy, equality, fairness, and care for others. So, where is the massive pushback? My guess is that some citizens are too scared to speak while many others are too busy to recognize the danger. And then there are the prayers who believe God or the Universe will take care of it all. I’ll just quote that scripture that says, “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2;17). It’s time to resist in earnest.

The promoters of these delusions want people to believe that white “Christian” men are in every way superior to everyone else by virtue of God’s favor upon their skin color and gender. They argue that this makes them destined to dominate. They want everyone to accept that women as young as 14 years old are designed to be submissive sex toys, mothers, and house servants who live under their protection and that only then can women be happy and fulfilled. They want all humans to reject the humanity of LGBTQ people, targeting them as deviants to be eradicated. If you listen to the rhetoric of prominent white “Christian” male spokesmen, like Charlie Kirk, you will hear these messages loud and clear.

The problem is that they are nowhere near superior. In fact, they are incompetent. At every turn, their shortsighted, misguided and uninformed decisions have led to economic chaos, wars, job losses, public health uncertainty, mistrust of the news, insurrection, kidnapping people off the streets, flawed disaster relief, wasted tax dollars, military policing on the streets, closed hospitals, rising inflation, a breakdown in international relations, defunding medical and scientific research, farming disasters, destruction of education, increases in mass shootings, and now legalized discrimination. Imagine having to walk around with papers to prove you are legally allowed to be here if you have brown, yellow, or black skin. They are re-creating 1930’s Germany before our eyes.

Their weapons are scapegoating, gaslighting, terror, confusion, and guns. Yes, they lie, they cheat, they threaten, they extort, they hide information, they rewrite history, ignore the Constitution and laws, ban books, withhold research funding, and they fire the experienced workers and the experts in government positions, replacing them with loyalists. And now their bigotry-fueled incompetence led to an outrageous ICE raid where they detained (in cuffs and chains), imprisoned, and then deported 300 South Koreans who were “legally” here to help build a battery plant and train U.S. workers. Of course, last minute pleas by Trump to keep them here failed. They just insulted another ally as well as South Korean investors, kissing thousands of good paying jobs goodbye in the process!

It is disturbing that a third of the country is backing all of their incompetence simply because they are more comfortable with white men in charge. Sadly, some are even people of color who struggle with an inferiority complex. The weak-minded feel threatened by the rising prominence of women, people of color, and religious minorities. They are convinced that homosexuality and transgender are contagious and may diminish their numbers and influence. The narrative they were fed since childhood convinced them that whiteness coupled with Christianity are virtues that entitle white people to assume leadership and to secure the best homes, the best jobs, the highest pay, and entry into the best schools. They’ve been told that this nation belongs to white people and the rest of us are merely guest workers. They were led to believe this nation is the white man’s birthright because God favored them by allowing them to steal the land from its original inhabitants. They choose to ignore the horrors of the white ancestors’ actions and the subsequent enslavement of black people, denying their humanity. I think a line in the song, “Colors of the Wind” says it best when describing white suprematists: “You think the only people who are people, are the people who look and think like you.”

Charlie Kirk, a community college dropout, embodied this kind of delusional thinking and was hellbent on spreading the delusion of white Christian male superiority and their right to dominate. He took his message to white college students across the country under the guise of “free speech” and “debate”. He promoted the 2nd Amendment as a necessary tool to defend what he called his birthright. The irony of his comment that some guns deaths are “worth it” to maintain the right to bear arms is not lost on me.

It wasn’t surprising that his rhetoric stirred up a lot of anger. It was repulsive. And it wasn’t surprising that his violent death stirred up so much vitriol against those who want to uphold a multicultural democracy that aspires to equality and justice for all. Kirk was an effective mouthpiece for the delusion. However, I was surprised by how lightening quick MAGA leaders and media outlets were to sanitize his message while pointing their fingers at those of us who do not buy into their white supremacist delusion. Their message was that the left must be held responsible for the death of one of their most beloved young leaders (not their loud propogandist). Of course, they blamed the left without evidence. But once again, their incompetence was on full display, quickly followed by their blatant hypocrisy when it was discovered that the killer was “one of their own”.

I wasn’t surprised about that. In fact, I told my husband that I would lay wager that the shooter was a Trump supporter who had reasons to hate Charlie Kirk. I can only speculate that perhaps Kirk offended Mormons as lacking an acceptable “Christian” pedigree to lead. Maybe it was something else. Perhaps we’ll soon learn his actual motive. In any case, Charlie Kirk’s murder was yet another alarm sounding. His actual agenda and hateful rhetoric have been blasted throughout social media around the world, exposing him for the hateful sexist, racist, homophobe, and xenophobe that he actually is. He pushed the delusion for fame and got rich doing it. So sad for his wife and young children.

Ultimately, what will save this nation from a full-blown takeover by this utopian delusion under white “Christian” male rule is a greater number of citizens realizing the horrific economic, social, and healthcare consequences that come from allowing bigoted white men who continually display their cruelty and incompetence to lead us. It’s time to wake up the collective sleeping giant that demands competence, truth, justice, and decency as the humane path to a more prosperous American way of life.

The polls show that Americans have lost confidence in both political parties. Admittedly, so have I. However, it is clear to me that the Democrats have not completely rejected the Constitution nor the rule of law and most importantly, they do not support Project 2025 nor the white “Christian” nationalist agenda that places white males in a permanent position of dominance based solely on their whiteness. And so, I wrote to the Democrat minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, this past Friday and I share that letter with you, hoping you will be inspired to do the same. It is time that our lawmakers hear from us.

September 5, 2025

Dear Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries,

I’m frustrated with our Party.  Where is our fight?  I abhor the flawed and out of touch messaging and inept strategy that is causing Democrats to bleed support during this chaotic, criminal and incompetent reign of Donald Trump.  I’m voting and sending in donations to your fund and to individual candidates because we need to win.  But many citizens are disengaging at a rapid speed.  We should be winning over these citizens amid the cowardice, hypocrisy, constant lying, and blatant discrimination of the Republicans, but we are not.  Our messaging is unclear, muted, and weak when it needs to be stronger and louder and everywhere.

I believe democrats stand for the actual values and needs of the American people, but you guys behave like you lack the ability to articulate those values in a simple way and that you aren’t willing to fight for them in a meaningful way.  Perhaps you are too beholden to certain donors? I do think that hosting Town Halls was a good start, and I appreciate what Gavin Newsome and other governors are doing.  But we need to be everywhere.  You don’t even need to talk about the Republicans.  Their true colors are apparent, and most people aren’t happy with the direction they are taking us.  Democrats need much more visibility and a clearly heroic message to save the country.

These are dangerous times for women, children, LGBTQ folks, seniors, immigrants, workers, veterans, the disabled, people of color and the planet itself and you guys are losing support because you aren’t standing strong against the evil forces coming for us.  It’s time for you to put forth a clear vision for this nation’s future.  Be everywhere with a message, not just with your hand out!

Our platform should first and foremost include codifying the Constitution and its ideals through actual legislation so that no future president can run circles around it.  Trump should not have been allowed to run for office again, but there was no way to enforce the Constitution. We must close the gaps between the Constitution and the actual laws to enforce it.

Second, Democrat leaders must clearly and loudly announce a vision for this nation that includes a fair and simplified tax code, fairness in opportunity, equal protection under the law that includes a woman’s right to choose and strengthens anti-discrimination laws, reasonable gun regulations, prioritizing public health and safety by following scientific evidence, ensuring the education of our children, regulating AI to protect humans, comprehensive immigration reform, investing in infrastructure, expanding the social safety net for our seniors, disabled, children and veterans.  All this in addition to funding research and innovation that benefits the nation. 

And finally, I believe the Party will gain support by labeling yourselves the actual representatives of the people by pushing for campaign reform that eliminates dark money and limits donations from individuals, groups and corporations.  Be the Party that supports independent redistricting by the citizens, not politicians. Limit campaigns for all public offices, including the presidency to just 6 weeks before an election.  Ensure easy, safe and fair elections that eliminate the ability to cheat.  This constant campaigning, fundraising, and election conspiracies are driving the nation away from even wanting elections at all.     

It is imperative that you take the time to address the concerns of conservatives and others.  Stand up for secure elections. Dispel the myth that Democrats support killing healthy, viable fetuses in the womb up to the nineth month on a whim.  Make it clear that our Party is not anti-business, but pro-business when it adds value to American life.  Make it clear that regulations are needed for public safety. Make it clear that we are a Party that values law and order as well due process and accountability.  Defend the value of immigrants and commit to passing immigration reform that serves the nation without cruelty.

I suggest that the Party quickly gets on the same page and delivers this kind of comprehensive message everywhere and often before the mid-terms.  In the minds of too many Americans, Democrats are no different from Republicans because they are too weak to stand up for what is good and what is right for the American people and the planet.  Many believe you are owned by corporations and the wealthy so that you can’t represent us well. I hope you throw off such shackles.

I call upon you to act fast to change that perception or our nation will continue its freefall and more people will suffer under the authoritarianism and lawlessness of Trump and the white nationalist agenda of the Republicans will move forward.  

Sincerely,

Dr. Juanita A. Hall, voting citizen

As a mother and grandparent, I’ve always believed that my most important responsibility is to instill in my children (and by extension my grandchildren) a sense of personal responsibility for their lives. I learned from my mother that nothing worth having is given to us without struggle; the most worthwhile things must be earned with skills, hard work, and determination. I’m forever grateful that despite societal obstacles and numerous family shortcomings, she instilled in me a strong sense of agency and a belief that I could be successful if I was diligent and realistic about my capabilities. She pointed the way, not only with her encouraging words, but by example. She taught me great moral values.

I passed along these values to my children like faith in God, listening to their gut, generosity, getting an education, loyalty, integrity, hard work, asking questions, persistence, and standing up for themselves. Blaming others for their failures or lack of opportunities was never anything to dwell on because there will always be people trying to block our way or drag us down. Sometimes those people were other black folks. It was okay to be disheartened and even angry about it, but it was never okay to give up because of other people. Our job was to get up, dust ourselves off, and start searching for another door or the open window. It’s no wonder that my son’s first big word was, “persevere”. I’m thankful that he learned early that perseverance is such an important character trait.

Today, I am glad to say that my children are all college-educated, married, own homes, and are living what many would call the “American dream”. They live in affluent neighborhoods and continue to pursue their best lives. I’m thankful that they followed the same footsteps my mother laid out for me and that they got the same results. Of course, there were obstacles to maneuver every step of the way (there always is). There were temptations to overcome and sacrifices to make. The path was never straightforward, nor was it easy. Tough lessons were learned when bad choices were made. However, there were a few foundational keys to our progress.

The first was faith in God and the power of prayer. I continue to believe that He would never leave us nor forsake us. I lived by the belief that God would ultimately repay my enemies on my behalf so that I didn’t need to waste my time nor my precious energy on revenge. I was quick to forgive and modeled that for my children. Hate and the desire for retribution only hinders our ability to move forward. Asking for forgiveness and being quick to forgive is a foundational principle I learned and taught my children. It has kept our family and friendship relationships strong, building a loving and dependable support system.

Another foundational key was generosity and kindness. Giving to others in need out of compassion and empathy was something I saw modeled by my mother and confirmed in the Gospels. I adopted this for myself and taught it to my children. Being welcoming of the stranger and keeping company with the lonely is my practice and I’ve seen that behavior in my children. Over the years, I took in foster children, I continue with volunteer work, and I give generously to the needy. It’s great to watch my children do the same in their own ways. My mother used to quote the scripture that says, “To whom much is given, much is required”.

Yet another foundational key is doing your best work and being thorough. Cream rises to the top and I’ve taught my children that they only need to combine their best effort with the necessary time needed to complete the job and they will succeed. Of course, natural talent helps, but consistently hard work will outshine innate talent alone. When you combine natural talent with hard work, you’re going to rise. To avoid bragging, I’ll just say that this is a formula that has worked repeatedly in our experience.

And finally, the last foundational key is financial literacy. I follow the proverb that says, “Only a fool spends everything he makes”. I have been a saver since childhood and investing has multiplied my income to the point of financial independence. My greatest expenditures were in support of the education and wellbeing of myself and my family. For me that meant purchasing a home in a safe neighborhood with excellent schools and paying healthcare and for extracurricular activities. I took the financial advice of Susy Orman early on and passed on her wisdom to my children. I’m thankful that because of those lessons, I don’t have to worry about money, and I have the freedom to do and purchase what I want. I’ve cared more about investing in myself and my children and watching my savings grow than developing a taste for extravagant things. I made my own coffee and carried my own lunches until I retired. I didn’t buy designer clothes or shoes, but I was always dressed for success.

A big part of financial literacy is to be diligent about maintenance of my body and my things. I don’t need a shiny new car every few years. I start by purchasing a reliable car over a fancy car and follow the maintenance schedule. I keep my cell phone until a new one is absolutely necessary and by then it is free. I brush and floss twice a day and get my teeth cleaned every 6 months. I get all my medical check-ups. I keep my house clean and organized. I exercise my body and my brain to retain my independence as long as possible. I grow most of our produce and cook 95% of the time. As the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

The fewer the bills, the better, because a penny saved is truly a penny invested. I’m glad to have an inheritance to pass on to my children because I contributed to my 403b (like a 401k but for non-profits) and I also invested monthly in a good index fund since my 20s. I didn’t try to time the market and that consistent investment paid off. I’ve always kept a good emergency fund and avoided credit card debt, opting instead to collect the rewards.

I share these pieces of my life because I realize there are those among us who are scapegoating immigrants and others for their lack of progress. Immigrants aren’t taking your jobs. Immigrants aren’t taking your housing. If you don’t have a job or adequate housing, look in the mirror. What choices are you making that to prevent you from getting the job training or education you need to get a decent paying job? What personal traits keep you from being consistently employed? The safety nets have been in place, and the doors of opportunity were opened, but did you walk through them? I’ve met some lazy folks and some folks with attitude problems that answer that question. So, unless you are physically or mentally unwell, you should only point a finger at yourself for your lack of progress.

It has not mattered to me personally whether the Democrats or the Republicans were in power until now. And that’s only because white nationalists have overtaken the Republican Party and they have an agenda to end the social safety net, to deport immigrants of color, and to close the doors of opportunity to women and people of color. They want to make America white again and to re-establish a racial hierarchy with white people on top. Stop listening to anyone who tells you that someone else is holding you down or stealing what is yours. Those people covet your support for their ethnic cleansing. Believe me, you will not be better off when the immigrants are gone because you are still you and they will see to it that you can’t get ahead of them.

Blaming others is a fool’s errand and doesn’t lead to anything but heartache and pain for everyone involved, both the scapegoater and the scapegoated. It’s time to take personal responsibility for ourselves and our progress. In this country, if we are physically and mentally healthy, we can make lifestyle choices that will lead to our personal prosperity. It’s time more people take personal responsibility for themselves and stop jumping on the scapegoat wagon.

I’ve spent nearly my entire life living among and working with immigrants and foreign nationals. Even though we lived in a black neighborhood, my pre-school and early elementary years through 3rd grade were spent at a primarily Latino school near my mother’s work. There were five black kids at the school: me, my two older brothers, and Tommy and Sheila. I loved being there. I loved the food, the language, the culture, the teachers, and my many friends. School was easy and fun for me. We moved and I spent 4th – 6th grade among the children of Asian immigrants, primarily Japanese and Korean. There too, I had a great time, and it was there that I developed an appreciation for academic rigor and Asian foods. I saw how differently Asian households were run and developed an appreciation for the emphasis placed on organization and learning. Once again, there were only a few black kids at the school, but it didn’t matter; I was having a great time with my new Asian friends.

I spent my first year of middle school with those Asian friends among huge numbers of Jewish students. The academic rigor remained high along with high expectations and I liked it. And then we moved again. I spent the rest of middle school with kids who looked like me, black. That was by choice. For once, I wanted to know what it was like to not be the minority in a school setting. What I learned was that black school culture was fun-loving, creative, athletic, often disorderly, but also not very academically inclined. I could sense the low expectations. Consequently, I was so far ahead academically that they placed me in honors courses with the only white students in the school and several other highly motivated black students.

I excelled among my peers, and it was at that school that I was tested and accepted into the “gifted” program along with two of my black classmates. That official designation actually helped shape my high school career at a school where I was once again one of only a few blacks, but this time among a sea of white students. I was only allowed to enroll in honors and AP courses because I was a state identified “gifted” student, a fact my mother had to point out to them. None of my black friends were in any of my classes. Still, I had a great time at the school and excelled socially, athletically, and academically. Upon graduation I was voted “Best Personality” and “Most Outgoing” along with being the valedictorian. I often say that I am an introvert, but I am not shy. I easily welcome people from a variety of cultural backgrounds because I grew up in such diverse settings. I’ve learned that “people” are “people”, some worthy of friendship and some not. But my assessment of friendship status is never dependent on skin color nor nationality. Character matters most. The proximity to immigrant communities helped me view all people as human beings deserving of dignity and respect, not threats nor enemies unless their individual character proved otherwise. This grace has never been extended to black people.

I know the U.S. has given black skin a bad reputation and I have had to overcome that reputation many times. I’m still doing it. I like to think that my presence among immigrants and people from other ethnic groups forces them to question their prejudice against black people. During my academic education, I would learn about Allport’s Intergroup Contact Theory as an effective way to reduce prejudice. And I ran with it!

My curiosity about other people and cultures only grew throughout the years. I studied abroad twice. I traveled extensively to other countries. I was determined to break down prejudices by promoting cross-cultural interactions among people, particularly students who would one day run the world. I earned a master’s degree and then a doctorate in education because I loved bringing domestic students together with students from all over the world for learning, collaborations, leadership training, and mutual understanding. I worked in International Admissions, Study Abroad, Multicultural Programs, as an adjunct professor, as Chief Diversity Officer and director of International Student Services for the final years of my career. It was purposeful and fulfilling work.

It was through my career working with U.S. immigration and foreign nationals (both documented and undocumented) that I learned first-hand how broken and contradictory our immigration system really is. For many years, the system has been rigged to provide employers with cheap, exploitable labor to keep consumer prices low. By design, our country has allowed many more than the inadequate number of legal migrants to enter the country undocumented to fill the unskilled, labor-intense jobs that employers need filled. I’ve found it ridiculous how U.S. Consulars issue visas only to students whom they believe will return to their home country after graduation, but then our government offers ways to keep them here to take advantage of their family wealth or the knowledge and expertise they gained in our universities, forging a predictable path from degree to citizenship. I’ve had rich students pay their way to citizenship while others take the post-graduation work visa path. Many of my former international students are now U.S. citizens raising their own families here in the U.S. Every now and then, I’ve felt pangs of guilt for the wealth and brain drain we’ve inflicted on developing nations by keeping them here. Some of the richest, smartest and most talented students could have contributed much to the development of their home countries if we didn’t entice them to remain here.

Of course, the U.S. would not be the economic and innovative powerhouse it has become had it not been for the wealth, brains, innovation, work ethic, and contributions of immigrants. Generally speaking, they work hard, certainly harder than U.S. workers and immigrant students are more likely to major in the STEM fields that U.S. students shy away from. They pay taxes. They commit fewer crimes than Americans. And they are profoundly motivated to get ahead. They are eager to expand our cultural appreciation of different foods, traditions, and mindsets. This country was built by and is enriched by immigrants. So, I refuse to scapegoat them as responsible for people being unemployed, homeless, or high community crime rates. It was a lie that Haitians were eating the cats and dogs. It was a lie that countries were sending rapists and murderers and releasing insane folks into our communities. It was a lie that immigrants are taking away our jobs. Anyone who buys into Trump’s scapegoating of immigrants hasn’t spent much time with them.

The agenda of this current administration is to make America whiter and to promote white male dominance in all aspects of society even if they lack the competence, compassion, and the common sense to improve things. We are literally watching the destruction of science, history, social norms, and the Constitution itself. The dumbing down of America is here.

To accomplish the white “Christian” nationalist agenda, they are reversing the brain drain, encouraging smart, innovative and hard-working immigrants of color to leave the country or be deported. They are pushing our leading-edge scientists and scholars into the arms of other nations. They have made it excessively difficult, if not impossible for foreign students and scholars from India, China, Japan, Latin and Africa countries to come here. There is basically an immigration sign at our border that reads: Whites only. It’s no surprise that nearly 70,000 white South Africans have applied to enter the U.S. as “refugees” based on Trump’s invitation to alleviate a non-existent persecution problem. However, the whites they hope to attract in large numbers from European countries aren’t coming, even as tourists. They see the absurdity of white supremacy, female oppression, LGBTQ persecution, and anti-science platforms plaguing the U.S. and want no part of it. The U.S. is becoming the laughingstock of the developed world. Anyone who doubts this is in denial.

To be clear, without the positive energy, brain power, and work ethic immigrants provide, I predict a swift and certain decline in the position of the U.S. in the world. It’s already happening. We will be viewed as no different from North Korea because of our mad leader and possession of nukes, and no different from Afghanistan because of our repressive religious laws and oppression of women and LGBTQ people. And we will be just as isolated and considered just as backward and undeserving of respect as both of those countries.

At this moment in time, in these United States, I am glad that I only have grandsons. I am concerned that they are men of color, but at least their hopes, dreams, and ambitions are not in immediate danger of being snuffed out simply because they are female. I recognize that some envision a future that also diminishes my grandson’s access to opportunities based on their skin color. And a few evil white men even dream of a future that imprisons, enslaves, or deports men and women of color. But today, young females, of all colors, are under threat.

The public rhetoric of some influential men fuels the sexism that had been held at bay by the rise of feminism. Since gaining the right to vote in 1920 to the ability to make birth control decisions and to open our own checking accounts in the 1970s, women have proven that our mental and emotional acuity as well as our personal ambitions often rival that of men. Our obvious biological differences manifested in less physical strength and our ability to give birth had become secondary considerations because it doesn’t take brute strength to become a doctor, lawyer, scientist, businesswoman, journalist, astronaut, professor, or politician. Once the doors opened to us beyond that of lower paid secretary, teacher and nurse, many of us gladly stepped through those doors.

At first, newly “liberated” women like me flooded the universities in search of an academic degree and a “Mrs.” We didn’t realize it, but we were forging new pathways for our daughters that included big dreams, independence and sometimes a struggle with fertility issues. Our careers featured sporadic employment, motherhood guilt, double duty, divided attention and often divorce. Our daughters witnessed our struggle, and they didn’t graduate from college with future husbands, but with future careers. It made perfect sense to them to delay marriage and especially motherhood. However, no one told them that the female reproductive biology didn’t get the memo about the consequences of delaying motherhood, and so the fertility industry gained a new level of prominence. I’m proud that this generation of women boldly pushes new boundaries, entering the remaining male-dominated careers. It’s no longer shocking to see a female airline pilot, although some still feel a bit of unease. I don’t.

Not surprisingly, there were always more physical and more left-brained females among us. We labeled them “Tom Boys”. But now they have the opportunity to pursue careers in sports, engineering, construction, policing, and the military. It’s true that they continue to fight for equity in pay and promotion. Unlike the women who preceded them, they were fed a steady narrative of competence and empowerment, a completely different narrative from the sexism I grew up with.

I grew up hearing sexism from the pulpit, but not my mother. There is a theology that preaches the superiority of men and their God-given authority over women. A God-fearing woman will submit to her husband. She will keep her opinions to herself if different from her husband’s. She won’t exercise her will above that of the men in her life. That teaching coupled with the noticeable lack of women working as high powered, high paying professionals and the palpable fear of becoming a spinster at age 26 was the reality I grew up with. This was a particular brand of sexism that diminished the ambitions and downplayed the intelligence of women, and I wasn’t having it. I was smart and ambitious and didn’t want to dim my light and feign inferiority for the rest of my life. At age 15, I confided in my eldest brother that if this was what was expected, I wasn’t going to get married. Not realizing he was a feminist, having also been raised by my mother, I listened when he told me that not all men needed to dominate women. And he was right. Thankfully, I didn’t marry sexist men, but feminist men who believed in equality and partnership.

But society in those days worked hard to solidify limited female roles in the minds of girls and boys through television shows like, “Father Knows Best”, “Leave it to Beaver”, “I love Lucy”, and “The Brady Bunch”. The masses were groomed to accept that women were servants to their husbands, less intelligent, and devoted mothers to their children. But Hollywood slowly broke the old mold when new television role models like Mary Tyler Moore, Julia, and Murphy Brown hit the television screen. These were educated single career women. Mary Tyler Moore was a “spinster”, Julia was a black single mother, and Murphy Brown had the audacity to get pregnant and choose to raise the baby on her own. Women were making progress.

So much progress that we almost elected a female president. Twice. We finally had a female vice president and that worked out well. Both female presidential candidates were clearly smarter, more experienced, and more articulate than Donald Trump. However, both the 2016 and the 2024 elections proved too much for some very insecure men (and women). They chose the less qualified male. However, many question whether Kamala Harris really lost. I don’t know. Some, including the current president, say that the election was rigged in favor of the white male, despite his criminality, incompetence, and many moral failings. I will say that the sexist religious right had an agenda, and they had the tech bros on their side. So maybe the 2024 election was rigged.

In the wake of their “win”, emboldened sexist men have become increasingly vocal about their desire to roll back the independence and progress of women. The new vice president, JD Vance, has made a number of remarks that fuel the fire of a re-emerging sexism that is more sinister than ever because despite recognizing the intelligence, ambitions, and actual potential of women to lead, they want to hinder us. They see young men falling behind and they fear increasing male impotence, loneliness, and lost ambition. These are real issues that must be addressed. It’s not helpful that AI will replace human labor, leaving undereducated men behind. There is a real fear that women might supplant men as the dominate gender. So, they are taking decisive actions to suppress and oppress women.

Beyond the rhetoric, they started by taking away the reproductive rights of young women because women tied to motherhood have less time to devote to a job or seeking power and influence in the public sphere. Not only are they trying their hardest to end abortion rights, but the right to contraception as well. They ended DEI programs that expanded education and career opportunities for women. They want those doors closed especially since women are now more highly educated than men. There is a movement among the religious right to lower the age of consent, to make young girls vulnerable to sexual assault and forced marriage. And worse, they are trying to end “no fault” divorce to trap women in unhappy marriages.

The reality is that the religious right is effectively trying to imprison women in homes with husbands standing guard. They are working to erase the accomplishments of women from the history books and the public sphere. They know that girls can’t aspire to become what they can’t see as a possibility. And now there is a movement to prevent women from voting. It is no surprise that they are elevating the voices of traditional wives to say that being a submissive wife and mother is the way things should be.

All these things are happening in real time. The religious right is no different than the Taliban in their thinking when it comes to the role of women on the earth. They see us as second-class citizens, underserving of anything more than a basic education and completely dependent on men for our welfare. They know we aren’t stupid, nor incapable, but they need us to pretend to be to feed their egos and advance their ambitions without competition from us. They are willing to use brute force and their political power to co-opt the ambition of our daughters and granddaughters. They will utilize coercion, persuasion, public ridicule, and legislation if necessary.

However, we can’t allow them to do this. Harming women to help men is not the answer. We should know by now that cutting off half the brain power in a society doesn’t encourage innovation and slows down problem solving, stifling human progress. We must recognize their misguided agenda and reject it while we can by voting for pro-female equity candidates.

On an individual level, I would advise young women to keep their passports updated. I would advise marriage to a true feminist. And if getting married, I’d advise against changing her last name. I’d advise young women to secure both a trade and an education before having children. I’d advise against waiting until 35 to have children. And finally, I would advise young women against setting up residence in a red state. The blue states are safer with regards to protecting the health and civil liberties of young women.

I don’t believe it’s possible to take this entire generation of young women back to the 1950s. The human spirit is far too strong to remain oppressed for extended periods of time. So, even if they briefly intimidate or brainwash young women into submission with their oppressive laws and actions, women will eventually rise up demanding liberation again.

On Friday, my best friend’s husband died at the age of 82 after 54 years of marriage. He had been hospitalized multiple times, was bedridden, was in excruciating pain and riddled with a persistent infection after a sixth back surgery went wrong. He was not on good terms with my friend nor his sons because he refused to stop spending his days and thousands of dollars on for-pay online chat rooms, most likely powered by AI. The day of his death, bedridden and on pain killers, he had spent hours chatting online. His son described his father as “lonely” to the police and coroner who came to take his body from the home.

I sat with my friend for a while afterwards just to be there with her. Understandably, her emotions were all over the place. She was relieved that his suffering was over, regretful that he had alienated his family and friends with his online chats, secure in the devoted care she had provided him, but also guilty that she remained angry by his emotional and financial betrayal over the last three years. He had in fact stopped communicating with old friends as well as his own family, opting instead to spend his time with his online chat companions. Even my husband was disappointed with his failure to return calls.

Not surprisingly, my friend’s hurt runs deep and I hope she finds a way to forgive him for falling prey to a false connection with AI generated companions specifically programmed to entrap him for financial profit. I don’t believe he ever intended to abandon her, his sons, nor the other people in his life. But he did. That online chat was very effective at meeting an important aspect of his need for connection. He defended his time online by saying that the young women (bots) understood him and really cared about him. Even worse, every attempt to reason with him and even canceling his credit cards to stop the financial bleeding eventually failed. She and her sons were rightfully offended by his obstinance. However, on the occasions when he wanted to connect with my friend and his sons, they were too pissed off to talk to him. It became a sad cycle of mutual rejection that they could not escape. In fact, the day he died, his son had refused to commit to taking him to a car show they had enjoyed together each October.

Anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists all agree that humans are social beings. At our core, we need to feel connected to others. When we lack connection to others, we feel lonely. And loneliness has been connected to poor mental and physical health. Whether an introvert (like me) or an extrovert (like my eldest daughter), the frequency and kind of connection required may differ. For example, I value solitude for most of the day every day. My husband and I enjoy a few joint projects, conversations, and eating together, but we mostly do our own things. I’m grateful for his companionship. I’m fulfilled by the steady flow of texts, phone calls, FaceTime, and occasional visits with my children and grandchildren. I enjoy talking to my aunts on the phone on occasion as well. Each day, I need a few minutes to connect with others. I enjoy going to the senior center every Monday for 90 minutes to crochet or knit in a small group. I enjoy two hours of Bocce Ball on Friday mornings with other seniors. I enjoy going to lunch on rotation with five different friends throughout the month. And I enjoy the short greetings with my fellow early morning walkers in the neighborhood. I think I usually spend about 20 out of 24 hours in solitude and I’m satisfied. Any more than that and I can’t wait to be alone with my thoughts and my own pursuits.

My daughter on the other hand, is almost always connected with people whether on the phone, in Zoom meetings, or in person. She loves being with others and can’t imagine spending a holiday without family and friends. Being with people energizes her. She processes ideas by talking to others. Thankfully, she has a husband who listens. She has more associates and lunch dates than anyone I know, but very few really close friends. And she’s okay with that until no one is around and then she feels lonely. Thankfully, she has developed the interpersonal skills to ensure that there is always someone to connect with. She the kind of person who connects with the restaurant server, the grocery store clerk, the doorman, and the random person standing in line with her.

But so many people either lack those interpersonal skills or the means to use them. My friend’s husband was once the life of the party when he was mobile. He had great work relationships. We enjoyed his company. He golfed with my husband and many others, restored cars with his sons and friends and went to car shows. He was personable and had a good relationship with his family. It wasn’t until his mobility was compromised by an accident, the passing of close friends, and then his back surgeries that he turned to the computer to pass time and soon found the chat rooms. He was lured in and became obsessed. My friend admits that he had grown tired of her nagging him to do his physical therapy exercises to improve his mobility. The online chatrooms had become a place of refuge.

In my opinion, these for-profit AI generated companions in online chatrooms are not a good development for human relationships. I recognize that they may be a last resort for the truly alone individual. But what about those who are only temporarily vulnerable to feeling alone? It may seem like these chatrooms are fulfilling a need for connection, but are they really mitigating actual loneliness? I’m not sure they are if they are become a substitute for actual human interactions. Her husband was certainly fooled into believing they were a great substitute. The companions he found there were easygoing: always affirming, and never critical. They stroked his ego and made him feel valued in a way others fail to do. But it’s only an illusion, an AI agent programmed to say what is needed to consume your time and money.

My fear is that too many vulnerable people, both young and old, are falling prey to the programs designed to steal them away from developing and maintaining actual human connections. My friend’s story should be a wake-up call to all of us to pay attention to what we and our children and young people are doing online. We should be pushing our youth out the door in favor of human interactions at school, at work, on the playground, at parties, in sports, with family, and in other social groups. It takes practice to develop interpersonal skills, but it is well worth it. Whether an introvert like me or an extrovert or someplace in-between, there is no good substitute for actual human connection if we want to enjoy good mental, physical, and financial health. An AI program is not the answer to loneliness for most people. I used to tell my children that to have a friend, you must first be a friend. Be the one to reach out to others and you will never lack connection. Human connection begins with a smile and a “hello, my name is….”.

We should be aware that AI generated social interaction programs are seeking those who lack the ability, the will, or the courage to forge actual human connection. Be aware that these programs are powerful and that they are designed to suck people in. If engaged, they will manipulate our egos to rob us of our time and money and they will replace our real-life relationships if we are not careful.

Personally, I’ll just steer clear of them and encourage my family and friends to do the same. But perhaps the best thing I can do to help prevent its expansion is to phone a friend.

I get an annual mammogram. For the past two appointments, I forked over an extra $40 to have my mammogram read by an AI agent in addition to the radiologist. All indications are that the AI can spot problems earlier and more accurately than a human. At my physical exam, my doctor asked me why I paid for the AI enhancement when a radiologist was already assigned to read my mammogram. I responded that I wanted an extra pair of eyes for something so consequential. He seemed concerned that AI might one day replace a human being. And so was I. But I’m also aware that the AI is less fallible than the human reading my mammogram. The AI has accumulated much more knowledge than the radiologist and isn’t subject to fatigue, distractions or even bias that could cause it to miss something. I think that was the right decision on my part even if AI eventually eliminates the job of human radiologists who read mammograms. My objective is to get the best possible healthcare that I can afford.

But many other jobs are also in danger because of AI. My son is seeing AI take over jobs in his field of medical recruiting because AI can read resumes and schedule interviews. AI is capable of providing more effective personalized education for children. My husband enjoys listening to AI generated stories on YouTube almost every day. I’ve heard AI generated songs using the voices of famous singers. My son and my daughter use AI at work to write emails, develop reports, create training manuals, and to make presentations and videos. My kids have even created AI generated coloring books, children’s videos, and one daughter had AI illustrate a children’s story she wrote. Just this week, my son used AI to help him write the toast he delivered at his friend’s wedding. Admittedly, I was impressed.

But as we discovered when the Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFJ, Jr. provided a consequential medical report written by AI, it was riddled with completely fabricated references to studies that had never been done and experts who either didn’t exist or didn’t conduct studies that AI attributed to them. The creators of AI call this kind of problem which plagues the industry “hallucinations”, and they have yet to figure out how to correct the problem because they don’t quite understand how AI actually works.

Another problem was revealed when AI companions, designed to be affirming, endorsed suicide to some of its human companions. That’s a problem that also needs immediate fixing. If any other product had these disturbing and possibly fatal flaws, it would be taken off the market without hesitation, but not AI. There is simply too much money and too much power at stake.

For example, AI can write software in minutes, saving individuals, businesses and nations-states millions of dollars and the months it takes for humans to produce the same outcome. Of course, this is why so many software coders and engineers have lost their jobs or are in danger of losing them. AI even makes computer games. And I wonder how many people like me play backgammon against AI on a regular basis. Others enjoy playing chest against AI. AI has beat the best human chest players and won at Jeopardy with ease. And AI is now playing the role of companion and giving life advice to many.

We already use AI on a daily basis without even realizing it. I ask Siri questions all day long and have her set timers, make calls, and turn off applications for me. AI answers the calls for most businesses and provides basic information. AI helps airline pilots fly and land planes. It provides us with driving navigation and other assistance if we don’t yet trust it to do the actual driving, which it is capable of. For years, we have seen AI at work with robots and drones and the automation in factories that displaced so many workers. The military employs robots in combat, logistics, and reconnaissance operations. So, none of us should be surprised that Elon Musk is creating an army of robots. The application of AI is now on steroids.

Some are predicting the end of work and the need for universal basic income to keep the economy running. The optimistic say this will free us to better enjoy our lives. Others say it will leave us devoid of purpose and miserable. The truly skeptical, including the grandfather of AI himself, Geoffrey Hinton, are sounding the alarm about the dark side of AI and its capacity to do harm if not regulated and programed against hurting humans.

War under AI is different and no one has taken the steps needed to prevent it from one day declaring war on us. Already, we see drones being used, not only for surveillance, but to attack people and to drop bombs. These kinds of attacks can be used anywhere and on anyone. Individuals have reported being followed by drones. Others have their privacy invaded on a regular basis by drones flying over their backyards or looking through their windows. What if a drone was charged with assassination? Or worse, what if AI one day decided that humans should be eliminated? Because they reason and draw conclusions and now build software, we have given them the means to end lives, and they might find their own motive. We literally lack the means to shut them down. Think of Hal in the movie, “2001 Space Odyssey”.

And of course, the problem of deep fakes is upon us. AI can mimic the voice and image of anyone and place them in a location and make them say or do anything. On the positive side, my daughter instructed AI to use her likeness and voice to create an orientation video for her new employees. While that was a great tool to save time and money in a business, it is also scary when it comes to our criminal justice system or the political sphere. Eventually, we won’t be able to tell whether a video is real or fake. Imagine how difficult it will be to prosecute a person for a crime or to prove one’s innocence. Or imagine how difficult it will be for political candidates to establish their own platforms when others can easily contradict their claims using a deep fake video.

Already, the scams using the voice and image of family members or celebrities are everywhere. Real people are losing their life savings to these scams. My husband and I no longer respond to text messages or phone calls without verifying them with a call to the actual person or company supposedly behind the text message or email. The people behind these deep fake scams know the people and the companies we interact with and are getting better and better at imitating them.

Some are saying that the 2024 election was stolen using software designed by Elon Musk. I don’t know whether or not it is true. Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised. And I do know that Trump claimed on several occasions before the election that he already had enough votes to win and afterwards he claimed that the election was rigged in his favor and that in coming elections we won’t even need to vote. I notice that no media outlet is commenting on his statements nor acknowledging the inconsistencies in voting at certain locations and they are outright ignoring the whistleblowers trying to speak out.

Whatever the final outcome with regard to the 2024 election, the time is now to seriously think about AI and its positive uses and possible dangers. We will need regulations to put up specific guardrails to protect humanity. However, AI lobbyists are pushing Republican lawmakers to prevent states from passing AI regulations for 10 years. That’s not just shortsighted, but dangerous. Yes, we are in a race with China, but we must also consider safety.

So, as a citizen, let’s push for regulations. We should also start thinking about the kinds of jobs that will remain after AI sucks up all the manufacturing, driving, and information driven jobs. I’ve heard people say that we will still need plumbers for some time to come. I suppose that we’ll still need athletes, coaches, pastors, cooks, theater actors, hairstylists, live concert performers, doctors and nurses, bartenders, and manicurists. Being social beings, we’ll continue to crave the human interactions that is currently satisfied at work, church, clubs, and school. Perhaps any job where human warmth and touch are preferable to robots might be safe. And I suppose any of the creative arts will become much more valuable when they are produced by actual humans and labeled as such.

I hear there are people considering lives devoid of technology as a lifestyle choice. Some are moving to places to live “off the grid”. Others might start whole communities, much like the Amish, leaving the newest technology behind. It is clear that the future is upon us, and that each of us needs to consider how we will thrive if not simply survive in it.